Just received some mp3 promos from a label. Had a listen to it on my player and found one of the mix to sound alil weird as compared to the rest. Did an analysis of it and found that the mp3 file had severe clipping through-out the mix. I dont have access to the wav file and was only given a 320kbps copy of it. My question is - If an audio file was mastered at a really hot level does it naturally clip when you compress an mp3 copy of the said file? Also how will this file translate if played out on a Club system?
I think some mastering engineers may clip a bit on purpose but the methodology is unknown to me. Somehow they are able to make the red lights on the mixer come on without sacrificing the quality of the sound.
From what I understand converting to mp3 can add a bit of level and do that.
Most mastered stuff that I analyze is generally not accounting for intersample peaks either and this probably doesn't help.
But really how it sounds is more important as you can get away with some soft clipping when done right. This is why I've switched to clipping my Daking pre as it does it more gracefully and I don't need as much digital clipping to get the same loudness.
I can say though in my experience a lot of artists shoot themselves in the foot by sending over bad premasters. And then it can be difficult to get proper versions from them.
This has caused me on a few occasions to have to pass clipped stuff out the door.
Converted some really hot wav files to mp3 and it seems they all do the occasional clip. Though def not as much as the one pictured but i guess what sounds good in the end is all that matters most judging from the response here. Thanks for the contribution guys
