clipping out my DAW drum buss: how to make it useable?

[goldenmean]

so i track everything to digital at real safe proper levels.
i started running some chains on my drum kit submixes, trying to get them really blown out and kept manipulating things until i came up with a process to have it blown out, roomy, and still have good close hits too.
it sounds ok at correct playback levels, but when i really push it on the compressor gain it sounds killer..the kick and snare have way more balls than they did before and the beats are really carrying the mix.

only problem is it is blasted in the red on my digital levels.
if i put a limiter on the drum bus it totally kills the punch.
is there any way to retain the sound im getting without running into problems later? is there something besides a limiter that i can, or some set of plug in gain staging i can add so its still blown out but coming back down to a reasonable level?
i know about proper leveling with computers and where i should be keeping things but id really like to have the drum sound im getting as something workable.

[kslight]

I am unclear as to if you already recorded these tracks...? Having soft clipping can help prevent digital overs going in...such as those found on Apogee converters...I believe Prism sound makes some builtin to a trs plug?

If you already recorded you can try using T-Racks Soft Clipper..

[brew]

Why don't you use the process you've described? If you want it to sound crazy distorted don't worry about it clipping--they go hand in hand.

If that's not the case, it sounds like you may be mixing up the concept of "playback levels" (SPL) and gain within your system. You should A/B the processing in and out at the same listening level. This is the only true test of if processing is better or worse.

[goldenmean]

no its already tracked..i started tweaking the drum sub mix out w/ plug ins and outboard gear and its solid but what puts it over the edge is being crazy blown out in the mix.
i cant get that same effect with any distortion plug ins and limiting kills the whole thing. however im cautious about having digital clip out this insane because i know its bound to be a mess later once its dithered, plus i need to make room for other things in the mix of course, just trying to find a way to preserve the effect im getting and make it workable.
i will check out t-racks, maybe the soft-clipping in that will be what i need.

[David_Kessler]

Check out the GClip plug at KVR. Sounds like what you are looking for, and it's free.

[farview]

What you are hearing is the sound of your converters clipping. It might be neat, but when you mix it down and play it on a different system you will be clipping different converters and it won't sound the same.

You can test this by rendering just the drums and importing that file back into the session, turning off the real drum tracks. Then you can mix the clipped drums into the song without having to clip everything else in the process.

If the rendered drums don't sound the same, then it is the sound of your converters clipping that you like. You will then have to record that by routing your analog outputs into your inputs and record. Then mix that in with the song.

[goldenmean]

word, thanks for the advice everyone

GCLIP is pretty much handling what i need, though there certainly isnt a whole lot of subtlely to using soft clipping on a final mix

i usually avoid clipping things out but im doing a session that revolves mainly around the drummer (no guitars) and so i was pushing the drums like crazy and for some reason the dynamics were still there and they sounded cool. but it was overkill for the rest of the mix.

i know people freak out about overdoing loudness these days, but im not making a mellow folk record, i want this stuff slamming like an old miami bass/808 record with electronics flying around. no vocals or guitars to mess with. the digital clipping is helping the mix to sound as aggressive as it is blasted live in the room.....more so than the saturation plug ins out there have. lately ive gotten pretty bored with keeping things clean ITB and been throwing fuzzboxes, bit reduction, and reamping on just about everything i can to mess it up.

is it kind of a bad idea down the line to go too heavy handed on things like GCLIP? should i apply it to separate busses and fine tune it (its not so hot on low bass stuff)? im still experimenting alot with it on mixes and its cool, but im in some new territory with mixes here.

[brew]

It's sounds like you are just concerned with red lights.

Record the processed drums out to new tracks. Then turn those processed tracks down so they aren't in the red zone. You'll have exactly the same sound, but you won't see red clipping. Or just turn down the master fader.

It's the same affect as limiting the crap out of something and then turning down the output--it's still limited, but just not to 0 dBFS.

It's not a bad idea to clip anything if that's how it should sound.

[getreel]

Event Horizon from Stillwell is another soft clipping limiter that might do something you like. I don't have it, but it's only like $49 so it's affordable but not free. I did try the demo awhile back and I thought it was pretty good sounding. Lately, I'm loving the Duende SSL Bus comp for drum sub squashing.