
6 Audio Effects: Theory, Implementation and Application
is 0.5, then signal level would be dened as 20 log
10
(0.5/1) = –3.01 dBFS, or
3 dB below peak level. However, if RMS measurements are used, then the
denition may be ambiguous. Different conventions are used for RMS mea-
surements. Some RMS- based level measurements set the reference level so
that peak and RMS measurements of a square wave will produce the same
result, all dBFS measurements will be negative, and the maximum sine wave
that can be produced without clipping will have value –3.01 dBFS.
An alternative (though much less common) denition gives the reference
level so that peak a ...