Exploring Unexpected True Peak Values in Pre-Mastered Tracks

[denior]

Hello Everyone,

I need some advice on an issue I'm facing with true peak levels in my DAW. I've been using tracks downloaded from YouTube for analysis, and I noticed something unexpected. Despite not applying any processing or adjustments, when I run these tracks through a Youlean loudness meter on my master track, they show a true peak value of +0.6 dB. This seems to happen regardless of the track, all of which have been mastered professionally before being uploaded to platforms.

Given that these tracks have been mastered with considerations for intersample peaks, I'm intrigued as to why they would show a true peak that exceeds 0 dB when played back in a DAW. Could this be due to the compression methods used during the uploading process to platforms, or is there another explanation?

I'm trying to understand if this is a common occurrence and what might be causing these readings.

Thank you all!

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[dyross]

Hello Everyone,

I need some advice on an issue I'm facing with true peak levels in my DAW. I've been using tracks downloaded from YouTube for analysis, and I noticed something unexpected. Despite not applying any processing or adjustments, when I run these tracks through a Youlean loudness meter on my master track, they show a true peak value of +0.6 dB. This seems to happen regardless of the track, all of which have been mastered professionally before being uploaded to platforms.

Given that these tracks have been mastered with considerations for intersample peaks, I'm intrigued as to why they would show a true peak that exceeds 0 dB when played back in a DAW. Could this be due to the compression methods used during the uploading process to platforms, or is there another explanation?

I'm trying to understand if this is a common occurrence and what might be causing these readings.

Thank you all!

Many mastering engineers don't worry about intersample peaks. If you search google or youtube or gearspace for "true peaks" or "intersample peaks" you'll get about half videos telling you to care and half telling you not to.

Depending on what genre of music, that there are intersample peaks in music you're referencing is not surprising. I would expect most competitively loud genres to be in the camp of "not caring".

As an exercise - listen to the sections that have true peak overages and see if they sound bad to you. Most likely, they are very short drum transients where a bit of clipping noise, even of the digital variety, isn't going to be too offensive.

(The argument for not caring about intersample peaks is that, if you assume a given loudness, the sound of the limiter "working harder" is less desirable than the sound of the peak clip itself. I haven't done enough of my own listening to determine if I agree with this or not for my own music.)

 

[jcrosby]

Hello Everyone,

I need some advice on an issue I'm facing with true peak levels in my DAW. I've been using tracks downloaded from YouTube for analysis, and I noticed something unexpected. Despite not applying any processing or adjustments, when I run these tracks through a Youlean loudness meter on my master track, they show a true peak value of +0.6 dB. This seems to happen regardless of the track, all of which have been mastered professionally before being uploaded to platforms.

Given that these tracks have been mastered with considerations for intersample peaks, I'm intrigued as to why they would show a true peak that exceeds 0 dB when played back in a DAW. Could this be due to the compression methods used during the uploading process to platforms, or is there another explanation?

I'm trying to understand if this is a common occurrence and what might be causing these readings.

Thank you all!

Compression codecs tend to result in inter-sample peaks... It's partially why a ceiling of around -1 dB or more is commonly suggested...

It's also true that you can find plenty of mastered examples where they'll occur, so they're not necessarily the be-all-end-all evil they're made out to be, but they can result in audible artifacts (especially in compression codecs). If you're worried about them in bounced mixes you might want to use a codec preview plugin to get a rough idea of what to expect...

The article below explains why they frequently occur in compressed audio, with images that make it easy to understand...

Mastering Tip: What Are Inter Sample Peaks & Why They Matter

If you’re like most producers, chances are that the last element of your mastering chain is a limiter with a ceiling at 0dB. Unfortunately even though in our DAW such a track isn’t clipping, it can distort after conversion to analog audio. Today I’m going to show you how to avoid this problem...

www.productionmusiclive.com

 

[kidslow]

I have found the analysis of ISP and various limiters here to be interesting.

ISP/True Peak limiter test

ISP, Inter Sample Peak or TP, True Peak, refers to peaks in the analog domain. That is, how your peaks will look after your waveform has been converted from a digital stream within your computer, p…

www.saintpid.se