Clipping individual parts doesn't sound the same as clipping in mastering. If you clip a single harmonic tone (in the musical sense, i.e. a fundamental + partia

Clipping individual parts doesn't sound the same as clipping in mastering. If you clip a single harmonic tone (in the musical sense, i.e. a fundamental + partials at integer multiples of its frequency) you only get harmonic distortion. All new partials generated are still integer multiple of the fundamental. The timbre changes but it doesn't sound dissonant. When you clip a more complex waveform, you can generate new partials with non-integer multiples of the fundamental frequencies, which sound dissonant. If it's simple enough (e.g. a guitar chord), the dissonance will be small enough that it still sounds musical, but if you clip something complex (e.g. an entire mixed-down track), it will just sound like noise. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermodulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermodulation Clipping of individual parts is integral to RATM's music, but I don't think clipping of the whole thing at once is. See their entries in the Dynamic Range Database: http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=rage+against+the+machine&album= http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=rage+against+t... I haven't actually heard the SACD release of Evil Empire, but with those numbers I'd be surprised if it was noticeably clipped in mastering. (Note that vinyl mastering can increase the DR measurement without audible changes in sound, see: http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Myths_(Vinyl)#Effect_of_vinyl_mastering_on_dynamic_range http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Myths_(Vinyl)#Eff... , so I'm much less confident about the vinyl releases with similar numbers.)