Headroom
Headroom is the safety margin between your audio's peaks and the maximum level the system can handle before clipping.
Recording with 6–12 dB of headroom absorbs surprises — a laugh, a slammed door — without distortion. Loudness is then set later in mixing; trying to record 'hot' to sound loud is how clipping happens.
Related terms
Frequently asked
What is Headroom?
Headroom is the safety margin between your audio's peaks and the maximum level the system can handle before clipping.
Why does Headroom matter?
Recording with 6–12 dB of headroom absorbs surprises — a laugh, a slammed door — without distortion. Loudness is then set later in mixing; trying to record 'hot' to sound loud is how clipping happens.
What terms are related to Headroom?
Closely related concepts: Clipping, dBFS (decibels relative to full scale), Gain staging — each has its own entry in this glossary.