the water is pretty muddy in music because many modern converters have headroom above 0 dBFS to reproduce intersample peaks. IOW distortion is not a given, only implied. With tools like True Peak it’s now possible to avoid distortion on any system, even for crappy older converters like those found in many car stereos. So that’s a good thing.
I’d take issue with Mastering Academy’s claim that -1 dBFS (or any arbitrary value that eliminates intersample peaks in a particular program) won’t fly in CD mastering due to loudness-envy. First I have seen a lot less pressure from customers, and with so many vinyl releases I expect the demand for distorted masters will continue to decline. More significantly, a good masterer can deliver a perceptually louder program than the hacks (read: mixer dude with L3 or Elephant), with peaks that don’t distort. IOW, I frequently deliver masters peaking between -.5 and -1 dBFS that sound louder out of speakers than the competition’s 0dBFS masters. Loudness is a function of average level and accumulation/integration time on meters, not peaks. There are all kinds of tools to enhance transients if you can’t figure out how to set up attacks on your dynamics chain, so it’s much easier to manage today.
The bottom line is that setting your peak level at -1dBFS is not necessarily going to give you a “quieter” master, nor will it necessarily eliminate intersample peaks (frequently overshoots are +3-6 dB!). True Peak and Meta Normalizer are terrific tools to see what’s really going on. Thanks PG!