🎧 How to Fix Audio Peaks and Clipping Automatically in Adobe Audition

Even the best recordings can suffer from unwanted peaks or clipping — those sudden loud bursts that distort your audio.
Adobe Audition offers several tools to fix these issues automatically, saving you hours of manual volume editing.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to detect, repair, and prevent audio clipping using Adobe Audition’s intelligent processing features.

1. What Is Audio Clipping (and Why It Matters)?

Clipping happens when your audio signal exceeds the maximum limit (0 dB).
This creates harsh, distorted sound that can’t be fixed just by turning the volume down.

🎧 Common causes:

Recording levels set too high
Sudden laughter, applause, or mic bumps
Aggressive compression during mastering

💡 Pro Tip: Once clipping happens during recording, detail in those peaks is lost. But Audition’s tools can intelligently rebuild it.

2. Identify Clipping in Your Audio

Open your file in Waveform View.
Go to Window → Amplitude Statistics.
Click Scan Selection.

Audition will analyze your track and show whether it contains clipped samples.
You’ll see a warning like “Clipped Samples Detected: 245.”

You can also visually spot clipping — flat-topped peaks in your waveform.

3. Use the Automatic DeClipper Tool

Adobe Audition’s DeClipper restores detail and smoothness to distorted audio.

Go to Effects → Diagnostics → DeClipper.
Choose a preset such as “Restore Heavily Clipped” or “Mild Restore.”
Click Scan.
Then click Repair All.

Audition automatically reconstructs the clipped waveform peaks.

🎙️ Pro Tip: If you’re fixing voice recordings, try “Mild Restore” first — it preserves natural tone better than heavier settings.

4. Normalize Peaks Safely

After declipping, normalize your audio to ensure consistent volume without distortion.

Go to Favorites → Normalize to –0.1 dB.
This brings your loudest peaks just below the safe limit, maximizing loudness while preventing further clipping.

You can also apply Normalize to –1.0 dB if you plan to export to compressed formats like MP3, which can cause slight inter-sample peaks.

5. Use the Hard Limiter to Prevent Future Clipping

To keep future loud bursts in check:

Go to Effects → Amplitude and Compression → Hard Limiter.
Set:
- Input Boost: 0 dB
- Limit Max Amplitude: –1.0 dB
- Look-Ahead Time: 7 ms
- Release Time: 100 ms

Click Apply — the limiter ensures no sound exceeds your defined ceiling.

💡 Pro Tip: Use the Hard Limiter on your master mix to maintain consistent loudness without distortion.

6. Repair Peaks Manually (If Needed)

For precise fixes:

Use the Lasso Tool in the waveform display to select clipped areas.
Right-click → Favorites → Heal.
Audition will smooth the waveform in that region, blending it seamlessly.

This is ideal for repairing isolated clips in otherwise clean recordings.

7. Combine DeClipper and Match Loudness

For best results on full projects:

First, run DeClipper to restore detail.
Then open the Match Loudness Panel.
Set your target loudness (e.g., –16 LUFS for podcasts).
Run normalization to finalize consistent, distortion-free volume.

🎧 This workflow repairs, balances, and optimizes your entire mix automatically.

8. Prevent Clipping During Recording

Fixing clipping is great — avoiding it is even better.

✅ Before recording:

Set input gain so your loudest moments hit around –6 dB.
Use Audition’s Input Meter (click the microphone icon next to your track).
Always record at 24-bit, which gives more headroom for volume spikes.

Conclusion

Adobe Audition’s declipping and normalization tools can rescue distorted recordings and prevent future issues.
With automated detection and repair, your audio stays clean, clear, and professional — no matter how dynamic your performance.

Next up: “How to Use the Dynamics Processing Effect to Control Volume in Adobe Audition.”