Remember that we are dealing with digital music. The info
within the music file is represented by binary numbers which
the soundcard uses to make the sounds.
Now, we have 16 bits available to us to use as numbers. One
of those bits is used for the sign (+-) leaving 15 bits. The
largest number that can be represented in 15 bits is 32,768.
If the gain (volume) is increased so much that samples in the
file need a value greater than that, they can not be represented
digitally and the program will use the largest value (which
is less than it should be). The result is that sounds above
that level are lost.
If many samples are clipped, the music will sound harsh...really
awful. If only a few are clipped, you probably will notice nothing.
The problem is, you have no way of knowing how extensive the
clipping will be beforehand. After the fact, you can load the
file into a wave editor and look at it. A normal wave has many
highs and lows...a badly clipped file will have extensive areas
of flat tops and bottoms. |