This is a semi automatically generated summary, made by CyberGwen with assistance of Python, BeautifulSoup, ChatGPT o1 and Claude Sonnet 3.5. The summary does not try to be complete, and leaves out many of the points in the original (like a detour about the good and bad aspects of true peak limiting, or the places CTZ has been implemented successfully) that might or might not be essential. If you want the full experience, go to the source by Baphometrix:
The AI-assisted text below might or might not summarize all essential points (no content has been altered, some of it is not uncontroversial - personally I disagree with some of it, but discussing that is not the purpose of this document). On the other hand, it should only take 5 minutes to read.
Clip-to-Zero is a gain-staging and mixing approach for producing loud, clean masters by distributing small amounts of clipping throughout a track instead of relying on a heavy limiter pass at the end. While many engineers in loud genres instinctively use something like this, the CTZ strategy formalizes it into a clear, repeatable workflow for those working entirely in-the-box (no outboard gear). It's especially useful for modern dance, bass, pop, and other "loud" genres, but it also works at more moderate loudness targets.
Traditional wisdom says to keep peaks well below 0 dBFS and leave ample headroom for mastering. In CTZ, each track and bus is pushed right up to 0 at the pre-fader stage, then clipped (or lightly limited) to keep it from going over. This naturally controls peaks early and forces you to shape sounds in a way that anticipates final loudness from the start, preventing last-minute mixdowns that collapse under a heavy mastering limiter.
Working near 0 on each track emulates the dense, bright character you hear in reference tracks. It prevents you from designing sounds that only resemble references at lower volume, then end up too distorted once you push them hard at the final stage.
If a sound can't reach the desired level or starts to distort when pushed, you'll discover that early and can replace it (or process it differently) before your arrangement is locked in.
Clipping small peaks on individual tracks and busses keeps the final limiter's workload light, reducing the risk of "squashed" or "lifeless" masters. The big mastering limiter should only "dance" on the loudest pulses—usually the kick, snare, or other critical transients.
Today's 32-bit floating-point engines can go beyond 0 dB internally without clipping until output. You only need to keep your final output below 0 dBFS (or just slightly under if you prefer).
- Framework & Anchor: Identify which elements define your song's main rhythmic and dynamic impact. Typically, this is your kick, snare, and possibly sub or vocals. Choose one as your "anchor" (often the kick). This anchor stays at unity on its fader, with a clipper at 0 dBFS on its insert. Everything else is balanced around it.
- Fader Down, Clipper Up: In CTZ, any track you want quieter goes below unity on its fader; any track you want louder is pushed into its clipper. The clipper hard-limits peaks above 0 dBFS but leaves the rest intact.
- Cascading Busses: Every group bus also has a clipper at 0, so peaks stay consistently managed as signals combine. If group sums become too loud, dial back the clipper's input or reduce track faders until distortion disappears.
- Put a hard clipper (or a tool+clipper pair) on each framework track, with the ceiling at 0 dBFS.
- Keep the anchor track's fader at unity; balance other framework sounds by pushing them into their clippers or pulling their faders down.
- Place a clipper on each bus that sums major groups.
- Make sure none of these busses are clipping unnecessarily during early stages—ease off the input or fader if distortion becomes noticeable.
- Compare your framework's level (in LUFS) to references. If it's too far from your target, experiment with pushing your framework sounds harder (with saturation or additional clipping) or choose sounds that naturally clip less harshly when driven.
- As you add new tracks, give each a clipper, then "fader down or clipper up" to fit it into the existing framework. Periodically check the busses to ensure you aren't over-driving them.
- Aux returns can complicate summing if they bypass bus clippers. Either route them into a bus with a clipper or insert a lightweight limiter/clipper at the start of the master.
- Replace some clippers with a quality limiter on delicate sources (e.g., vocals, pads) if you hear unwanted distortion.
- Over-sample clipper plugins (like KClip) only after you're mostly done composing, since over-sampling can add CPU load and latency.
- Ideally, your mastering chain only trims the top peaks. Focus on ensuring the loudest transients (kick/snare or other main pulses) do the triggering.
- If you see constant gain reduction on the limiter from other sources, clamp down their peaks earlier (increase clipper input, lower bus fader equally).
- Don't obsess over True Peak. Modern DACs rarely clip with slight overs, and streaming guidelines will change. Typically, setting your ceiling around -0.1 or -0.3 sample peak is fine.
Clip-to-Zero is all about controlling dynamic range early and often, distributing small clips throughout the mix. You avoid old-school headroom rules and sculpt every layer at near-finished loudness right from the start. By the time you reach mastering, you won't be wrestling with last-minute fixes—your song will already be loud, clean, and balanced, leaving your final compressor and limiter only a little "dance" work to do. This method preserves punch, clarity, and avoids the squashed, distorted mess that comes from a single big pass of limiting. It might sound unusual at first, but once you integrate CTZ into your workflow, you'll discover how predictable—and how effective—it is for producing modern, competitively loud tracks.
Below is a high-level listing of notable details present in the original text but omitted from or only vaguely referenced in the summarized version. They are grouped by topic for clarity.
You can skip this section if you want to know what CTZ is. This section is about all the things that are in the 17 pages document that are not about CTZ.
- The author's personal backstory as a stage musician, sound engineer for bands, and producer of loud festival bass music
- Specific mentions of the artist brands "DubSkald" and "Baphometrix", reasons for having two artist aliases, and how their distribution strategies differ
- Reference to mentors and influences from the heavy bass music scene, including ill.Gates and producers from The Glitch Mob (e.g. ediT)
- Statements clarifying the author does not sell courses or products, only shares educational material
- The request for people to follow/subscribe to DubSkald and Baphometrix on streaming or YouTube if they find the material helpful
- Links to an interview about the author that was in the original text
- Luca Pretolesi quote (multiple-grammy-winning EDM/Pop mix/mastering engineer) endorsing the idea of distributed clipping
- Quoted conversation in which ill.Gates relays feedback from ediT about being inspired by the CTZ strategy videos
- Mentions of the channels Tutorial[ism] (Craig Lopez) and Dash Glitch (Dash Hawkins) comparing standard mixes versus the CTZ method
- Detailed discussion of how that particular track from the "Devs" TV series hits -7 LUFS yet preserves dynamics by limiting only specific rhythmic pulses (the downbeat hits from bass + guitar)
- Embedded YouTube link and unlisted video analysis showing waveforms, plus several waveform screenshots demonstrating how only a single transient is clipped/limited in the final master
- More in-depth commentary on how arrangement choices directly impact loudness potential (e.g. mention of a Seed-to-Stage video, or the conversation with Justin Colletti and Marc Adamo)
- Encouragement to consider whether your musical genre and arrangement can realistically achieve very loud targets (like -7 LUFS) without excessive distortion
- Extended critique of True Peak limiting and "-1 dBTP" streaming guidelines, calling them "hoaxes" or "urban myths"
- The argument that modern DACs have built-in headroom, so tiny inter-sample peaks above 0 dBFS do not necessarily cause audible distortion
- Advice against following "-1.0 dBTP" rules specifically to satisfy streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music, since their standards constantly shift and most are expected to move to lossless streaming
- References to Steven Slate, Fabrice Gabriel, and Ian Shepherd Facebook exchanges on True Peak issues
- The opinion that producers should only create one main master (at around -0.1 or -0.3 dBFS sample peak) instead of making separate "streaming" versions at lower peaks
- Explanation that many streaming services normalize or change guidelines, so a quiet "-14 LUFS" mix might sound weak on non-normalized platforms like Beatport or DJ pools
- Discussion about Deezer HiFi streaming FLAC and how future widespread lossless streaming will make current MP3/AAC constraints moot
- KClip Pro 3 and its unique two-stage clipping (oversampled front end and a non-oversampled laser clipper to maintain a strict 0 dBFS ceiling)
- FreeClip, GClip, s(M)exoscope, Signalizer for those who cannot afford KClip
- Saturate by Newfangled Audio (spectral clipper) and how it preserves detail in peaks
- Limiters the author frequently uses:
- TrackLimit by DMG Audio (lightweight, two-stage wideband limiter with low CPU usage)
- Elevate (Eventide/Newfangled) and Limitless (DMG Audio)
- Author's dislike or caution toward smart:limit if it only does True Peak limiting
- Explanations of how oversampling in clippers can produce "above ceiling" peaks, and how an internal second clipper (as in KClip) can tame them back to 0 dBFS
- The thorough "Step 9" example where you watch the mastering compressor/limiter's gain reduction to see if non-framework tracks are triggering it, then adjust their bus clipper input and fader by small matching amounts (e.g. +0.3 dB input, -0.3 dB fader) to reduce dynamic range without losing perceived loudness
- Repeated reminders to sidechain duck every other element (including Aux returns) to the key framework transients (kick/snare), because there's no room to stack multiple transients all hitting 0 dBFS simultaneously
- Advice on placing a clipper early in the Master bus if the DAW forces Aux returns to sum at the master, causing unpredictable peak buildup from parallel FX
- Warnings against trying to force old analog-based rules (e.g., -6 dB headroom) in a purely in-the-box environment
- Mentions that 4G is being retired and 5G is rolling out, which will enable heavier data (lossless) from streaming platforms
- Multiple disclaimers: the author clarifies that they didn't "invent" distributed clipping but rather formalized it into a teachable process
- Comments about entire topics like using layered saturators, parallel compression, and other advanced RMS-boosting techniques when "pushing a sound up to its limit"
In essence, the original text contained many additional details, discussions, personal anecdotes, plugin recommendations/settings, historical/technical arguments against True Peak rules, and references to other producers and educational videos. The compressed summary left out (or heavily condensed) those specifics to focus on the overall CTZ method—its concepts, advantages, and a basic step-by-step. All the extra stories, brand references, plugin intricacies, and streaming discussions were cut or shortened for brevity.