True Peak — What It Means in Music Production
True peak is the maximum absolute level of an audio signal after reconstruction between samples. Unlike sample peak, which only measures the amplitude at each digital sample point, true peak detects inter-sample peaks that can cause distortion during digital-to-analog conversion or codec encoding.
Full Explanation
Digital audio is a series of discrete sample points, and the actual continuous waveform between those points can exceed the measured sample peak value. This phenomenon, called inter-sample peaking, occurs most often with heavily limited or clipped audio where consecutive samples are near 0 dBFS. A track might show a sample peak of -0.3 dBFS but have true peaks of +1.5 dBTP, which causes audible distortion when the signal is reconstructed by a DAC or re-encoded to a lossy format like MP3 or AAC.
True peak measurement uses oversampling (typically 4x) to estimate the actual peak level of the reconstructed waveform. The result is measured in dBTP (decibels true peak). Streaming platforms and broadcast standards require true peak levels below specific thresholds: Spotify recommends -1.0 dBTP, Apple Music requires -1.0 dBTP, and the EBU R128 broadcast standard specifies -1.0 dBTP.
Setting a true peak ceiling of -1.0 dBTP on your limiter is widely considered best practice. This provides enough headroom to prevent inter-sample clipping during codec conversion while keeping the signal close to full scale for maximum loudness.
In Electronic Music
Electronic music is particularly susceptible to inter-sample peaks because of the heavily limited masters common in genres like techno, dubstep, and hard techno. Aggressive limiting pushes consecutive samples close to 0 dBFS, creating the exact conditions where inter-sample peaks occur. Always use a true peak limiter rather than a sample peak limiter on your master bus, and set the ceiling to -1.0 dBTP to ensure clean playback across all platforms.