An audio signal decoder for providing a decoded audio signal representation on the basis of an encoded audio signal representation has a decoder preprocessing stage for obtaining a plurality of frequency band signals from the encoded audio signal representation, a clipping estimator, a level shifter, a frequency-to-time-domain converter, and a level shift compensator. The clipping estimator analyzes the encoded audio signal representation and/or side information relative to a gain of the frequency band signals in order to determine a current level shift factor. The level shifter shifts levels of the frequency band signals according to the level shift factor. The frequency-to-time-domain converter converts the level shifted frequency band signals into a time-domain representation. The level shift compensator acts on the time-domain representation for at least partly compensating a corresponding level shift and for obtaining a substantially compensated time-domain representation.