[MLA] Spotify’s plans

[Grimm | Eelco]

Hi Kevin,

> Since much of our audio processing is now done in floating point, I don't think clipping at the encoder is that big of an issue anymore. The problem is with the decoder which can produce higher peak levels than the signal sent into the encoder and that can cause clipping in the conversion to fixed point going to your DAC.

In Grimm Audio's loudness normalization software LevelOne we offer normalization of MPEG encoded audio (layer 1 and layer 3) within the encoded domain by manipulating the coefficients. This offers two advantages: no cascading of codecs and (like you imply) no decoder clipping. I’m afraid we did not get much following of competitors with that technique, so lowering the audio level before encoding is probably still the safest way to go.

Cheers,
Eelco