The Overload Light... Can I Disregard It?

[Favedave]

I've been caught in the Overload Hunt tracking down what the heck was making the OL light go on while mixing. Even though I have meters set for Pre Fader, none of the channel meters were pinning! So I set them for Post Fader and still no individual channel meter was going to the top.

Maybe I was tired, but I could not HEAR any overload distortion. (I've heard overload distortion in the past when I changed parameters and a plugin got slammed with no OL light going on).

So, can the OL light be ignored?

I thought I read somewhere that it was wonky, but now I cannot find that post so maybe it was for something else

Out of caution, I moved all the channel faders down 6 db and redid the automation. Of course, I had to go through all the sends and plugin inputs, too.

I submitted a request to have an overload indicator on each individual channel. If you agree, please submit that feedback, too.

 

[Nyoak34]

I've been caught in the Overload Hunt tracking down what the heck was making the OL light go on while mixing. Even though I have meters set for Pre Fader, none of the channel meters were pinning! So I set them for Post Fader and still no individual channel meter was going to the top.

Maybe I was tired, but I could not HEAR any overload distortion. (I've heard overload distortion in the past when I changed parameters and a plugin got slammed with no OL light going on).

So, can the OL light be ignored?

I thought I read somewhere that it was wonky, but now I cannot find that post so maybe it was for something else

Out of caution, I moved all the channel faders down 6 db and redid the automation. Of course, I had to go through all the sends and plugin inputs, too.

I submitted a request to have an overload indicator on each individual channel. If you agree, please submit that feedback, too.

The OL light seems to include OLs of cues, possibly even individual plugins or extensions - it's not really that clear but it is not just the individual channels being monitored. If you're not overloading your master and don't hear anything you don't like, I personally would not fret too much about it.

 

[Favedave]

The OL light seems to include OLs of cues, possibly even individual plugins or extensions - it's not really that clear but it is not just the individual channels being monitored. If you're not overloading your master and don't hear anything you don't like, I personally would not fret too much about it.

I don't use cues. In fact, I don't know what they are! I never use the console.

 

[8thnote]

I've had problems with peaks since I started using Studer Tape again on a lot of channels. Have to recalibrate the I/O a bit on the settings most of the time but that usually takes care of it.

 

[Batpro]

Same "issue" here during a mix and, for my case, solved muting the cues 1&2 (residue from the recording session) . The OL flashing happened both with cue output on MIX or CUE. I thought I heard a slight saturation, as if the CUE signal was added to the MAIN (post limiter).
Hope this helps.

 

[Emanon]

I have completed projects entirely and the OL dances like a ballerina! However, the project not only sounds great but passes the test for streaming platforms. So, I ignored it.

 

[JPK]

I have always been unclear on what that light is for and how we're supposed to use it. I too once submitted feedback asking for some way to click on the OL light when it comes on and get an indication of what exactly is peaking.

 

[Daveporter33765]

I have struggled with the OL indicator also. My initial thought was that it indicated a signal was too hot coming into Luna. I have reduced the level of imported audio tracks and see the OL indicator go out only to have it return during mixing when there was no other indication of an overload. Perhaps Drew can enlighten us on what the OL indicator monitors and what makes it go off.

 

[rickwaters]

From the manual:
Clip overload (OL) indicator — Indicates clipping that is occurring somewhere in the session. This indicator lights when clipping is occurring visually (on a track in the session), and also lights when clipping occurs out of immediate visibility (for example, on an input, output, cue, or send). Click the indicator to clear clips.

Here's a new one for me. I've got a channel, which is muted and the fader down. It's the only one hitting the red once in a while. I finally 'deactivated' and that's what stopped the OL from coming on. Crazy. I thought for sure the muting or the fader down would have done something, but I had to deactivate it for it to have an affect on it.

 

[Ben Jenssen]

I never used Luna. I use Pro Tools, and in PT you can set the meters to show pre- or post-fader levels. Set to 'pre', the fader or plugins will not have any effect on the meter, of course.

Also, with the PT mixer running with a bit depth of 64 and 'floating point', it's almost impossible to drive it into distortion. I.e; you can drive tracks, sends, busses etc into the red all over the place - as long as you have a master fader on your outputs that you can pull back into the green, the signal out will be totally unaffected of the internal signal of the software going far into the red. It's just maths.

 

[AlanW]

I had issues with random OL triggering. Fader on the track was -18 or less yet still clipping. A newbie error I guess. I discovered that I had the metering set post fader. I now have the metering set to pre fader and adjust so that the level is not too hot going into the fader. I then switch to post fader for final levelling.
I found the video below useful

 

[rickwaters]

My random OL's have been because I had some of my Cues on...too loud.