Noob question regarding audio clipping...

[Dirty_Ass]

I've never worked with sound seriously before, and I have a fairly complex (for me, anyways) sound design in the project I'm working on right now. The only problem is, at certain points the sound clips above -6db, which I'm told is the breaking point for distortion. Do I simply lower the volume of all my sound clips until I'm at -6db? Or should I use a limiter or compressor or something? Is -6db REALLY the breaking point, or it lower/higher? I'm using FCP HD, if that makes a difference. Thanks

 

[Haydn]

When the audio is in a digital format, -6db is below the distortion/clipping level.
Distortion occurs above 0db, which is the maximum volume.
Perhaps you have been advised to record at levels peaking around -6db? that might be good advice because it allows some 'headroom' for unexpectedly loud sounds to be recorded without distorting.

also, if your average volume was -12 but you had an occasional peak at -6, you could use a compressor to reduce the volume of the loudest parts. This just reduces the difference in level between the loudest and quietest parts of the sound, but means you can increase the overall level after compression to make your audio louder (without distorting)