[Scott Dorsey]

geoff wrote:

No CD that I've purchased in the last decade exhibit clipping that I've
noticed, though a few are over-compressed to hell (not many
fortunately). And some I've been prompted to actually check ! Not much
'current' pop though I concede.

The problem is that in the digital world, clipping is whatever you define
it as. I tend to set metering so three consecutive FS samples light the
over light, and so that is clipping.

Aggressive limiting that flat-tops the signal isn't necessarily clipping,
it's just aggressive limiting. But at what point does limiting turning
into clipping? The point at which three consecutive FS samples appear.

Much of the k man's confusion has to do with the fact that he can't get
the difference between reference levels and loudness.. and once you start
adding limiting, it doesn't matter _what_ your reference level is because
you can go infinitely high over it and still not light that red light.

Now... the truth is that I have seen some pop CDs that have as many as
eight consecutive FS samples... and I would call that clipping. But,
someone else who decides to calibrate their over light differently
might not, and that is the problem when you start using the word 'clipping'
in the digital world.

Loudness is achieved by extreme compression and/or limiting. If digital
clipping occurs, that is a *technical error* - not inherently part of
the hyper-compression process. And the same 'loudness' could be achieved
without any clipping.

The question is where limiting ends and clipping begins, and where that
exact line is actually is a philosophical question and not a technical one.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."