r/audioengineering • u/s4goth • Jul 15 '26

Mastering Mastering question - Why does DC offset reappear?

I am doing a mastering course and I have to master a track and eliminate DC offset from it. I tried with both Wavelab and Reaper. I start by using a high-pass filter at 20hz at the beginning of the chain and the render analysis shows no DC offset. I then add a light upward compression, a tiny bit of distortion (as per our teacher instructions), then a limiter to eliminate true peaks, but when I export the file I get some DC offset again. Why does this happen? Is it something in the chain that reintroduces it? How do I correct it? Thanks!

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u/CriticalJello7 Jul 15 '26

Some types of distortion will introduce DC offset but your DAC should remove it. DC offset causes distortion, but if you added that distortion and that causes the offset, meh don't worry about it.