Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 859)

72 Part I Media and Project Management
 Track level meter: Each track in the Audio Mixer tab corresponds to a track in your
sequence (or in the Viewer) and has an individual meter with a scale from +12 dBFS
to –∞ dBFS (silence). A track level meter shows the levels of the current audio clip
item in a track. Use these meters to make sure the average level of each clip is
consistent with similar audio material and that peaks are not above 0 dBFS.
Each fader has tic marks that indicate the current strength of the signal in decibels (dBFS).
Note: Although you want to avoid levels above 0 dBFS, the track level meters can
display these levels. This is because Final Cut Pro mixes audio internally at 32-bit
floating-point resolution, which is a much higher resolution than the 16- or 24-bit
audio you are using in your project. The internal mixing resolution allows
Final Cut Pro to mix with an enormous amount of additional headroom. This lets you
mix many audio channels together without clipping internally. As a result,
Final Cut Pro can show you how far beyond 0 dBFS your current audio mix will clip in
16- or 24-bit. However, you still need to make sure your signal does not go above
0 dBFS on your Master audio meters.
Acceptable range
Clipping range
Acceptable range