[Arny Krueger]

wrote in message
oups.com

Are there any meaningful parallels that can be drawn
between digital photography and digital audio?

Other than questionable metaphors, probably not.

For example, if you take a digital photo with a
high-megapixel count, this means you can enlarge the
picture more before you start to see imperfections.

I've never seen a photograph of something with substance that could be
confused with a view of the origional object, after a close inspection.

So if you record a 24-bit signal just under clipping,
does that mean you can get away with wider level
adjustments in the DAW mixing environment before noticing
signal degradation?

Now that is true. If you attenuate a FS 16 bit signal 64 dB, there is only
about 32 dB left. This is usually highly audible degradation. If you
attenuate a FS 24 bit signal 64 dB, there is still about 80 dB left, and
that is rarely if ever an audible amount of degradation.

Lesson to learn - use 24 bits or more for mixing and EFX.