Goldilocks middle way. Not too much, not too little. No need to overcompensate when normalizing by trying to get it as close to 0dBFS as possible. Just need enough extra space so the complete waveform doesn't get chopped off at the top.
If peaks are way down then normalize to a peak level closer to 0dBFS. If unsure exactly how high that peak actually goes because it might happen to crest in between two sample points (an intersample over) choose a slightly lower target peak value. That's it. One or two dB down from 0 is plenty and equates to a more or less insignificant difference in the position of the listeners playback volume knob.
-3dBFS is not unreasonable. ..and that or even -6dB is likely what a mastering engineer would prefer to receive from a client. But a target of -6dBFS as a target for final release gains nothing and will require additional playback gain to compensate, as it will most likely sound significantly quieter than whatever is played before or after. The additional 3dB of empty space gains nothing. -6dBFS is totally fine as a "released as it was recorded peak level" that isn't so low it really needs normalization to be listenable, yet is an overly low target for final normalization of a finished recording where levels are being actively adjusted in post production.
Topic: 24/48 to 16/44 conversion introducing clipping... (Read 74,003 times)