Well, you did write the opposite before “0db digital = -24dB analog” rather than “0dB analog=-24dB digital”.
Also, like I said, the nominal reference level (0VU) on a converter can equal anywhere from -16dBFS to -22dBFS. So there is no standard. The devices are calibrated differently.
In that article on gain-staging it seems to me that the author is using “dynamic range” and “headroom” interchangeably, and that’s not really right I think. I think most professional engineers would agree that having too little dynamic range (if we assume that means the range between peak and average) is bad when sending stuff out to mastering. But that’s different from headroom. The space between nominal operating level and the onset of distortion in analog (i.e. 0VU to distortion) is the headroom. It’s ‘above’ something. So leaving space above the peaks (to 0dBFS) in a mix doesn’t really do much since a mastering engineer can just lower the mix easily and is likely - as suggested - to diminish the range rather than extend it.
I just don’t see the point in leaving for example 6dB of space as a general rule.
Sure.
Yes, I have heard about the loudness war… It has very little to do with “-1dB” or “0dB” and everything to do with adjusting dynamics and increasing loudness.