[LAD] Floating point processing and high dynamic range audio

Hey, fellow devs! I'm a newcomer to this mailing list and I'm sure this has been discussed here at some point, but I'll ask anyway. I'm a bit better on programming side than on audio-tech side so... - Does all floating point formats mandate valid values in [-1.0, 1.0] range? - How does floating point (and perhaps fixed point/integer) values relate to dB notation? - If I muliply float by 2.0, do I get twice the sound pressure or twice the sound intensity, or something else? Well as for internal processing. If I mostly use integer formats for inputs, it doesn't appear I gain anything from "normalizing" them (scale to [-1.0, 1.0]) during internal processing. I just output integer part directly to integer formats (adjusted for different bit resolutions when necessary), and normalize only when saving to float format. What do you think? Proprietary formats such as AC3 and DTS market themselves as high dynamic range. Do they use values over 0dBFS or do they just have higher bit precision than "standard" formats? Thanks! -- JohnLM