Clippers became a hype again in the plug-in world with the release of Kclip and sir audio standardclip.
Without going into anything technical, these are used just like limiters but they don't work like limiters. We (usually) place it right before a limiter to get more loudness, it helps to keep the mix sound transparent as one doesn't have to overuse the limiter.
As the pumping is the side effect of limiters when pushed, clippers distort. They work best to flatten sharp peaks of the mix (usually snare on rock) but if forced too much will distort bad and doesn't work well with bassy peaks (like electronic dance music). After the clipping process, you can use the limiter but don't push the limiter hard (compress like 2 db max) or your mix's musicality will dry out.
Make this a rule; Goal of working with limiters and clippers is transparency while increasing gain, not to make stuff super loud. The web is full of bad sounding music cause of wrong adjusted loudness and no one cares for them...
Here is a list of various clippers, I've been using the freeware Gclip for a few years now and its a nice tool if you want to start learning what clippers do;
Audio Assault KlipFreak, Chokehold Clipmax, IK Multimedia Classic T-RackS Clipper, Joey Sturgis Tones JST Clip, Kazrog KClip, LVC-Audio ClipShifter, SIR Audio Tools StandardCLIP, Sonnox Oxford Inflator, Stillwell Audio Event Horizon, vladg/sound Limiter No6
You are at GuitarMasterClass.net
Don't miss today's
free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with
free content!
