Audio Monitor db or dbFS?

[Angelo Lorenzo]

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.

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Angelo Lorenzo

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[Joe Mole]

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.