Old 09-25-2015, 07:17 AM   #1
nopeda
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Default ??? about "automuted"

A couple of times I've been bothered with "automuted" and can't figure out how to un-automute and haven't been able to find out anything about it in the Reaper manual. Can anyone help me understand what's up with that?

Thank you for any help!
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Old 09-25-2015, 07:40 AM   #2
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There's a setting that automatically mutes your track if it's overly loud, default +18dB.

Here, right in the middle:



Something very loud's happening in your project.
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Old 09-25-2015, 10:12 AM   #3
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Does anyone else feel that +18 is too high of a setting for AutoMute? I set mine to +6.

I'm not so much worried about my ears (they're already trashed ) but I love my monitors.

Just curious.


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Old 09-26-2015, 10:08 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zeekat View Post
There's a setting that automatically mutes your track if it's overly loud, default +18dB.

Here, right in the middle:
. . .
Something very loud's happening in your project.
Thank you! I tried turning it down with the volume knob in the track and also at the bottom of the work area, but it never unmuted. Is there some other way to do it?
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Old 09-26-2015, 10:17 AM   #5
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Click on the mute button to unmute an automuted track. Or just restart the playback if "Reset on playback start" is enabled in REAPER's preferences.

Keep in mind that the track will be re-muted immediately if the volume issue isn't fixed.
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Old 09-26-2015, 10:28 AM   #6
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yes.

at first: if auto-mute is set to +18db and it hits you there is something really wrong with one or more tracks.

I have set mine to +6db, and I think there is something pretty awful with my tracks should it hit me.
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Old 09-26-2015, 04:28 PM   #7
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yes.

at first: if auto-mute is set to +18db and it hits you there is something really wrong with one or more tracks.

I have set mine to +6db, and I think there is something pretty awful with my tracks should it hit me.
The last time I tried doing this stuff a few years ago I don't remember it ever happening at all. Now it happens frequently. What could go wrong to cause that, do you know? It might only happen on the laptop and not the tower...I don't remember it happening on the tower. So I haven't tried doing much other than trying to get instruments together and learn to use things, so don't have much experience actually trying to make music yet.
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Old 09-27-2015, 12:23 AM   #8
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Maybe you have some buggy plugin, I remember using a reverb VST (xhall - it was sort of experimental/beta plugin) that generated huge, automuting spikes from time to time even if your faders were quite low.
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Old 09-27-2015, 07:22 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zeekat View Post
Maybe you have some buggy plugin, I remember using a reverb VST (xhall - it was sort of experimental/beta plugin) that generated huge, automuting spikes from time to time even if your faders were quite low.
Does it matter what you use to lower the volume? The track volume, or the volume in the work area, or is there something else like a gain?
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Old 09-27-2015, 08:03 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nopeda View Post
The last time I tried doing this stuff a few years ago I don't remember it ever happening at all. Now it happens frequently. What could go wrong to cause that, do you know? It might only happen on the laptop and not the tower...I don't remember it happening on the tower. So I haven't tried doing much other than trying to get instruments together and learn to use things, so don't have much experience actually trying to make music yet.
does this automute come all of a sudden in a otherwise normal loud project or are you with your levels so high, that you risk automuting?

in the first case, there is something wrong with a plugin, I assume. or you have really huge volume differences in one or more tracks.

in the latter case you would have to turn down the volume of all tracks, so that you get a good result while the master-fader is at 0db.

put a brickwall limiter to the master, set it to 0.3 ceiling, threshold 0db, and watch the bigger lines in the master meter (the RMS meter). these should go sometimes above -18db, mostly not over it. if these are in the Metallica/Red Hot Chilli Peppers-range - means: between -9db and -3db - pull all track faders down. leave in every case the master at 0db. dont touch the master.

when done so there should never ever automute kick in again. in fact, with the brickwall limiter one could set automute to 0db and it wouldnt kick in.

anyway, the above method gives you an idea how to do the gainstaging, so that you end up with reasonable levels all over the place.
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Old 09-27-2015, 11:57 AM   #11
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Just to add, the automute feature is mostly to keep you sane and to keep your freezes, renders to stem, and glues consistent. If you use 32bit FP for freezes and renders then it really doesn't matter as there's an extra 8bits for any volumes above 0dB.

Use automute to make it more obvious when instruments are way too loud. This will keep your gain staging consistent. You could even set auto mute to 0dB and make everything perfectly consistent to render, freeze, and glue to 24bit PCM.

Going above 0dB on a track doesn't sound bad because Reaper (and I think most DAWs) mix at 64bit internally. So as long as the master isn't above 0dB then there is no audible digital distortion.

As LightOfDay said, put a limiter on your master. This will save your speakers/cans but you don't want your peaks to be engaging the limiter. It's merely for safety. You want your peaks on your master to be around -6dB to -3dB. This is so the master engineer has room to work with.
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Old 09-27-2015, 06:15 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LightOfDay View Post
does this automute come all of a sudden in a otherwise normal loud project or are you with your levels so high, that you risk automuting?

in the first case, there is something wrong with a plugin, I assume. or you have really huge volume differences in one or more tracks.

in the latter case you would have to turn down the volume of all tracks, so that you get a good result while the master-fader is at 0db.

put a brickwall limiter to the master, set it to 0.3 ceiling, threshold 0db, and watch the bigger lines in the master meter (the RMS meter). these should go sometimes above -18db, mostly not over it. if these are in the Metallica/Red Hot Chilli Peppers-range - means: between -9db and -3db - pull all track faders down. leave in every case the master at 0db. dont touch the master.

when done so there should never ever automute kick in again. in fact, with the brickwall limiter one could set automute to 0db and it wouldnt kick in.

anyway, the above method gives you an idea how to do the gainstaging, so that you end up with reasonable levels all over the place.
Nothing really seems to be too loud to me. Playing around with it tonight it seems that one track of a project that uses the preset Aube des Temps in Alionoctis is what keeps kicking in the Auto mute. I turned it down on the track, but that doesn't seem to help. In fact after doing that and unmuting then I get a message that Reaper had to shut down, do I want it to send a message to Windows...etc. So then when I finally got it to open again for a second I muted that track myself and then it did fine without having to shut down. There's another track with a different preset in Alionoctis in that project, but that doesn't seem to cause a problem and doesn't auto mute.
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