• Adobe Premiere Pro

  Audio Monitor db or dbFS?

  Posted by Joe Mole on February 22, 2013 at 7:25 pm

  Hi all,

  So I need to make my audio -20dBFS to -16dBFS (may peak but not exceed -1dbFS). So I need a little help with this.

  First question, the audio monitor in PPro is this helpful to determine dBFS? At the bottom it says dB.

  Secondly all my clips are peaking below 0. My dialogue peaks anywhere from -3 to -9. The meters average between -6 to -12 while the people are speaking.

  Are my targets in the right area with this?

  Thanks, I’m a bit of a newb to the audio specs stuff!

  Joe Mole replied 13 years, 6 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Angelo Lorenzo

  February 22, 2013 at 8:41 pm

  dbFS is just a decibel scale where 0 is considered maximum and infinity considered minimum (Premiere has a fidelity up to -120db).

  dbFS is common for digital audio. Older analog recording equipment uses VU or dBu which is almost always a direct voltage measurement of the signal which can go far and well into positive values.

  Loudness is perceived as the average level. Your mix shouldn’t peak to far above or valley to far below the spec -16 to -20 range… it’s the “meat” of the signal. RMS, rather than peak, measurement is what you need to look at (broadcast specs get strict with average levels being measured over time with certain frequencies weighted more than others). Premiere VU meter doesn’t give this to you at least not directly. Adobe Audition or any DAW is a better choice for audio mixing. There are plenty of free audio effects that are just volume meters.

  The human voice is very dynamic. Depending on the microphones used it does have a tendency to sharply peak. You may want to compress your dialog (this gently squishes the peaks) and raise the overall level. This also makes plosive syllable sounds easier on the listener’s ears.

  If you regularly mix audio to specs, consider using Adobe Audition along with Waves broadcast volume monitoring plugin. It’s a setup I’m currently using and I found it totally worth the money.

  ——————–
  Angelo Lorenzo

  Need to encode ProRes on your Windows PC?
  Introducing ProRes Helper, an awesome little app that makes it possible
  Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
  RED transcoding, on-set DIT, and RED Epic rental services
  Fallen Empire – The Blog
  A blog dedicated to filmmaking, the RED workflow, and DIT tips and tricks
• 

  Joe Mole

  February 22, 2013 at 8:52 pm

  Thanks for the info, that was definitely helpful. The video will be going to video advertising but not broadcasting.

  I have audition and initially used that to level and normalize my audio. I’ll have to look into the plugin you mentioned.

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up