User Manual

AUDIO MONITOR
259
When clipping occurs, the level meter’s clip
indicator will light up as shown below:
Retain clip
If Retain Clip is checked in the Audio Monitor
mini-menu, the clip indicator lights up at the first
occurrence of clipping and remains lit as a
reminder that clipping has occurred. To clear the
clip indicator, click it. This is a convenient way to
keep track of clipping without having to stare
continuously at the meter.
☛ The Retain Clip setting here in the Audio
Monitor also affects the clip indicators of the level
meters in the Mixing Board window and the Meter
Bridge (page 861).
Clearing the clip indicators
Click an indicator to clear it. Double-click it to
clear all indicators, or choose Clear all clipping
indicators from the Studio menu.
Scrolling to the record-enabled inputs
If the Audio Monitor has a lot of channels showing,
this menu item can come in handy. When it is
checked, the Audio Monitor will always scroll to
the record-enabled inputs so you can easily see
activity on the input without having to scroll the
window manually.
SETTING THE INPUT LEVEL
When recording, get as high a level as possible
without any clipping. Before you record, always
sample the entire range of the audio input you will
be recording and adjust the input level accordingly.
Ideally, the loudest part of the signal should peak
just below zero dB (when the meter is all the way up
without the clip light). Digital clipping is harsh,
with virtually no headroom, so try to avoid it as
much as possible.
OTHER WAYS TO MONITOR INPUT LEVELS
In addition to the level meters in the Input Monitor
(Figure 27-1 on page 255), long throw metering is
available in both the Mixing Board (“Level meters”
on page 815) and the Meter Bridge (“Meter Bridge”
on page 861). The Meter Bridge provides audio
track input monitoring, whereas the Mixing Board
provides both MIDI and audio track input
monitoring.
Clip indicator