Re: [LAU] master levels

On Sun, 01 Feb 2015 23:40:45 -0600, Brent Busby wrote: "RMS: For the case in which the RMS value of a full-scale square wave is designated 0 dBFS, all possible dBFS measurements are negative numbers. A sine wave could not exist at a larger RMS value than −3 dBFS without clipping, by this convention." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBFS#RMS_levels I can't say anything about CD quality and the need to use a margin as close as possible to 0 dBFS, but for DAT quality there is no need to be close to 0 dBFS, OTOH it also doesn't cause audible issues, if you master up to 0.5 dBFS. Headroom doesn't harm, OTOH if a demo recording isn't as loud as other demo recordings are, this might be a disadvantage, since not everybody knows how to use an amp's volume control.