Breaking all the mastering rules.

[MacTron]

I've read a lot about audio compression and I've tried a lot of software compressors (including PSP, Waves,TC...) but I've never achieve good results with them all: "destroy" much more than fix. May be I have found something that's not made for myself (sound compression)
...and I have to confess that in one of my songs (The Lost Summer) I've upped the  master fader up to 2.6 dB over the Cubase red indicator limit, and in the song "Sync Monster" even more!
I've wrote this songs to CD and played them in to several devices without any problem, converted it to MP3 and even upload in our forum without nobody's complain about bad sound...
In this way I finally achieve that my songs sound as loud as the commercial ones, but breaking all the mastering rules.
I'm confused.

[Protools5LEGuy]

The people that master material to sound "loud" but "clear" are normaly geniuses. The signal path to achieve that is a whole profesion.  You can be proud just to reach "loud" and not sounding harsh.
The compresion is a tool that overused can degrade the sound. But...
I cant understand a MIX without a compressor in every channel.
When you use it daily, understand all the parameters, and start to use the colour of the different compressors, you keep using it as much as EQ or even more.
 There are "clinical" ones and "personality" ones. I love both.
Still today, the spectral design multiband compressor is one of the most used in mastering. Yes, I am talking about the Steinberg mastering edition plugs we have here....
Mastering easy-fast with waves L1-L2. I like McDSP MC2000. But EVERY master can be different. In windows people uses wavelab-soundforge. I guess the " matrix" sound editor we have in Os9 is the best tool. Or maybe a Deck version....Even using virtualpc just for wavelab has sense...

[IIO]

i guess that it is a very common misuse of compressors, using them to gain more gain.

[MacTron]

Mystery solved:
The problem of audio clipping were automatically solved by Cubase dithering process (Apogee UV22) when I've exported to 16 bits. Exporting to 24 or 32 bits where dithering process does not take place and then,  the audio clippings are clearly audibles.

This way, this Apogee UV22 can be used to gain 3 or 4 db when exporting to 16 bits! LOL

[IIO]

 
dithering normally adds gain, which is why you should never go too close to zero.