View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | View Status | Date Submitted | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0009927 | ardour | features | public | 2025-05-10 08:35 | 2025-05-14 02:14 |
| Reporter | rhY | Assigned To | |||
| Priority | high | Severity | tweak | Reproducibility | always |
| Status | new | Resolution | open | ||
| Platform | Ubuntu | OS | Linux | OS Version | (any) |
| Summary | 0009927: The Audio Export Dialog Should Give More Data | ||||
| Description | It will show peaks in the overall track, but gives no indication of which track may be causing the peaks. I mean, usually it's the snare, but sometimes it's vocals, the guitarist bumping a mic.... Lots of different things can cause a peak. Would make it a lot easier to deal with if it indicated which track(s) were peaking. | ||||
| Steps To Reproduce | Export audio file. In the dialog, see some peaks (yellow bars). Have no idea which root track is causing the issue. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
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While it's a good idea, after summing there is no way to determine this after the fact. This is really part of the mixing (not export). Have a look at the peak indicators in the mixer and sub-mixes (busses). |
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PS. so even if you'd know that it's the snare causing clipping.. the solution is likely not to attenuate it, since that would change the overall sound. You probably want to use a compressor on tracks or your drum bus, and a limiter on the master bus. |
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Having a list of tracks providing volume during that section with a rating of most likely to least likely should be doable. And yes, I agree with some of your other suggestions. Although I still suck at using compressors. |
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Well, export just plays the session and takes the signal from the master-bus output (or the channels to be exported), there is no information available which track contributed what signal. Take mixing colors as analogy: Once you mixed oil paint, you cannot split it up in individual source components anymore. With audio it's worse, since summing some tracks may even cancel each other out, and different tracks contribute different levels during different times in a song.. Besides, once you're ready to export it is too late to fix the mix. Mixing should to happen before mastering and depend on artistic decisions, not medium limitations. As for "list of tracks providing volume" the meters in the mixer window do a good job at that. There is perhaps an opportunity to add additional tools to the mixer (say some realtime loudness analyzers), to address this early on (not after export). Perhaps worth of a forum discussion. |
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@rhY Multiple tracks being summed together can be the cause of the peak. The individual tracks are not peaking, but when added together, they will peak. With tape recorders, it was common to run a hot signal, to get a better noise floor, and some compression effect from the tape. With digital, it is not necessary, and it can clip easily compared to tape. Try either recording at a lower level, or set your faders at maybe -3db or -6db to start if you want to record that hot of a signal. To get everything loud again, try a limiter instead of a compressor on the master bus. Mess with the knobs and see what you come up with. Try to record the best signal you can, possibly avoiding having to compress or EQ any of the tracks you recorded. |
