Greetings everyone!
When mixing multiple audio sources that were not previously clipped and exporting to 32-bit float, the final result always exceeds the 0db limit. As amplifying to a negative value or normalising to 0db bring the volume of the entire mix down until no clipping remains, I instead use audacity’s limiter (with input gain for both channels set to 0, limit to 0db, and hold set to 10ms) to only knock out the peaks going beyond 0db, and therefore let the overall volume unchanged. however I’ve been wondering about 3 things:
1. when both inputs gain are set to 0, are the clipped waves simply amplified down (simple volume change with minimal alteration done to the audio) or are they treated as if they were being boosted in volume (meaning that hold time could unnecessarily alter the audio in a way that distortion, and therefore quality loss, could potentially be introduced) ?
2. does the limiter only alter the waves that are going above 0dB or does it alter the entire audio?
3. Is using the limiter for that purpose recommended or is there a better way for achieving that goal?
In any case, Thank you so much for your time! I sincerely hope I was not too long
May everyone have a magnificent day !