There should not be any signal above! Check any of the professionally used software (Nuendo, Pro tools and such) None have metering above 0dbfs.
That would be nice
But when using high-resolution 32-bit floating point precision, this can actually happen
Nuendo, Pro Tools etc. just clip this before in their display; but internally it happens as well, also in Pro Tools, Nuendo etc. - be assured, they just do not visualize it
Also ProTools etc. are mostly used
I would like to see meters calibrated to 0dbfs
The PF meter is calibrated to 0 dB FS. Meaning a 0 dB value is displayed exactly at 0 dB!
There is actually nothing more to calibrate with a meter display, except that it displays the exact values at an exact position. And this is what the PF meters are doing!
A simple "over" is more then enough
Maybe for you. But not for me and others.
No you calibrate the meters and then adjust the audio processing to the propper level
I guess you are wrong. See above... a meter must display the exact values at an exact position, there is nothing to calibrate with a meter! We are digital here and not analog!
...and people will try to push levels above the 0 dB mark on the current meters
Why should that be? Do you assume any user is dump? I guess almost every user will understand, that ANY LEVEL ABOVE 0 dB MIGHT LEAD TO DISTORTION. It is that simple... people who do NOT understand this should not work for a radio station !
And I still disagree, as I have seen many people also pushing a 0 dB FS meter by far!
Why?
Pretty simple: In the analog world most meter have been designed, so that the overload indicator should only lit for a few times to be perfectly leveled...so they do the same with a 0 dB FS meter...they increase the level, so that overload indicator only lits sometimes, but not constant.
BUT in the digital world, this is total wrong! It should NEVER lit at all!
So to my mind a 0 dB FS meter does not solve your problem!
You can only solve your problem by teaching people - that's all.
For the advanced user this might be true, for 95% of the others it is not
Now you are inconsistent with yourself!
Above you say: " in a good setup it simply should never be lit"...but a good setup requires an advanced users!
In my mind this is like this:
ANYONE should be able to level his sound correctly, else he is untrained, inexperienced and should not work at a mixing console (note that in 99% of the times it is not the audio file being leveled incorrectly; but its mostly the MIC being leveled too high!).
So here a meter going above 0 dB helps the un-advanced, but trained DJ!
He knows (must know), that a level should NEVER go above 0 dB ... but often he does not know 'how much' he has to lower his level.
With a meter going above 0 dB, he directly can see this...easy.
With a meter stopping at 0 dB he can not see this and must try and error.
And this MIC leveling must be done every day! I don not know how you do it, but the first thing I learned at a radio was, that EVERYTIME I place myself infront of a MIC, you MUST level your MIC! This because your voice is differently loud everyday, no more! every time you place yourself in front of the MIC!
So the first thing you must do when you sit down at a MIC is: LEVEL your MIC according to your current voice level!
And as you do this 'MIC level calibration' EVERY TIME someone sits down in front of a MIC - my personal opinion is, that a level meter going above 0 dB helps.
But...as said, it is a personal taste...