"Phil Allison" wrote in message

"John Larkin"

Any recording medium saturates at a reasonable, but not
extreme, level above average program level, CDs run out
of bits, vinyl runs out of groove width, mag tape
saturates, even live FM is deviation limited.

** = exactly why you do not get 36 dB peaks above
average on commercial music recordings.

Its even pretty hard to find 36 dB peaks in live performances.

Every once in a while someone drops, or unplugs, or heavily bumps a mic at
one of the preformances I record. This is *always* the biggest peak in the
recording. IOW, the whole recording chain has enough dynamic range to handle
*anything* that actually happens along the lines of music.