Is the level of 89dB what most people really use out there?

Also, when a song is flagged as "Clip" how bad is that really? Can that be ignored (it just nicely compresses it so you can't hear it) or will actually generate an audible artifact?

I was looking for an in-depth FAQ on the usage of mp3gain (total newbie, I just used it on my first CD full of MP3s and it definitely made them easier to listen to as a whole), but before I go on and start using it across the board, I'd really like to know:

a) is 89 db the level I should always use? If yes, then why?
b) if a song on a CD is flagged as "Clip" how serious is that? Should I lower the level of the entire CD just because of that 1 MP3 (let's say 1 out of 100) or can I just safely ignore it?

Thanks in advance for clearing this up...

Not necessarily. That's just a fairly "safe" level at which most songs will not have any clipping (although I've found a few that do).



The seriousness of the clipping depends on your ears. If you can't hear it (a "crackle" sound during the loud parts of the song), then no problem. If you can, you could probably just move the gain down a tiny bit for that one song. (Use the "Constant Gain" function in mp3gain).

-Glen

What does Constant Gain do exactly?

Adds a user-specified (positive or negative and in increments of 1,5 dB) gain to the selected files.