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Red and Yellow peak indicators. What do they mean?


cinningbao

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I feel like this is normal knowledge and I'm just a bit behind the times, but can someone please explain to me why Logic colours these peak indicators differently? I don't have time to perform tests today (which I would normally do) so I thought I'd ask you guys..

667413953_ScreenShot2019-12-28at13_57_03.jpg.fea563728c0c6f9cdde609132c218dc8.jpg

 

Left channel is an audio channel and the right is the stereo output.

 

What crucial information am I missing?

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My guess is it depends how many 0 dBFS samples in a row? One 0 dBFS sample in a row doesn't necessarily result in distortion but two or more are likely to result in distortion. If you're interested in this matter you can read up on inter-sample peak distortion.

 

Thanks, David. Will do. What do you mean ‘in a row’? I’ll read up on it too.

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Oh, you are using a limiter! :) Okay. Well, I was halfway joking. When you see peaks going over 0 during playback on tracks that were recorded well below 0, that means they are being effected by a plug-in that is adding gain or collectively being summed with too much level. However, sometimes when I'm mixing and see that, I'll throw a limiter on a track or bus as a bandaid and fix it later if I'm focusing on something else. When you see a limiter passing transients above 0, that's either by design or it's a setting that can be adjusted. Limiters set to clip or suppress transients will put a hard stop on anything that hits your output level setting. Some can let transient peaks pass.
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Oh and I was assuming yellow and or red 0 dBFS readings. If the peak reading is above 0 dBFS then it could be a variety of reasons. Check that the master fader is set to 0 dB.

 

That kind of raises another question...at least for me. Should the master fader (i.e. stereo output) always be left at 0.0? I saw a mixer just lower the master fader to reduce the stereo output meter so it wouldn't clip...turn red. Seems simple enough.

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Should the master fader (i.e. stereo output) always be left at 0.0?

Yes.

 

I saw a mixer just lower the master fader to reduce the stereo output meter so it wouldn't clip...turn red. Seems simple enough.

That's the equivalent of making your speedometer read more than the actual speed of your car so that you won't go over the speed limit.

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  • 1 year later...

Here's something that confuses me. In the attached screengrab the Peak Level indicator is showing a yellow value which as I understand from the above explanation means is is over 0 dBFS in the 32 bit realm, however the value is -1.2. So I don't understand how/why it is saying I'm over 0 dBFS but the value is in the negative. Would love someone to explain what is happening here.

1592527255_ScreenShot2021-02-08at7_30_50pm.png.ca417089881d6ee3bcc6d8533d945528.png

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Here's something that confuses me. In the attached screengrab the Peak Level indicator is showing a yellow value which as I understand from the above explanation means is is over 0 dBFS in the 32 bit realm

No, that explanation was the answer to another situation where the peak value was positive.

 

however the value is -1.2.

That means you're peaking at -1.2 dBFS.

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Ok so the yellow colour is just to indicate that I'm nearing 0 dBFS, I'm not clipping in the 32 bit realm or something?

Correct you will see the yellow/orange numbers on black background when the levels are within -1.9 dBFS to - 0.0 dBFS. Then starting at +0.1 dBFS and up the background of the indicator turns orange with white numbers to indicate 32 bit realm positive dBFS values.

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