Peak Level
Peak level is the maximum instantaneous level of an audio signal, measured against digital full scale.
What this is about
Digital audio has a hard ceiling at 0 dBFS: anything above does not get louder, it gets destroyed, and clipped dialogue cannot be repaired convincingly. That is why recording practice leaves headroom and why deliveries define a peak ceiling below zero. Sample peaks miss a subtlety — the reconstructed waveform between samples can exceed what the samples show — which is what true-peak metering accounts for. Loudness answers how loud a programme feels; peak answers whether any single instant breaks the format.
A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.
What runs differently here
Where this differs from the general case:
- 0 dBFS is a hard wall — clipped audio is destroyed, not just loud
- True peak catches inter-sample overshoots that sample meters miss
- Delivery specs set peak ceilings below zero for a reason: codecs add overshoot
With TillyGen
A peak-ceiling note in TillyGen's delivery checklist turns a rejected file into a value the mix simply meets the first time.
Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.
Frequently asked
My meter shows no clipping — why does the encoded file distort?
Lossy encoding reconstructs the waveform and can overshoot between samples. Keep true peaks comfortably below zero before encoding.
How long does it take to get started with TillyGen?
A first project takes under an hour to set up. There is no configuration phase in which templates and fields have to be defined before the tool produces anything.
Can the results be exported?
Yes — as PDF for the crew, CSV for downstream systems and through the API for anything automated. The plan stays the source; the exports are views of it.