Klangfreund LUFS Meter

[John Rofrano]

[Gerry Fraiberg] “I don’t work in broadcast (although I did for many years in radio), and was wondering what the benefit would be for web and/or DVD delivery. Anyone?”

Well having a meter that measures loudness as perceived by humans ears as apposed to using one that simply measures instantaneous signal level is certainly helpful. The bigger questions is what level should you use for different media delivery? While broadcast is regulated to -23 LUFS or -24 LUFS (depending one which side of the pond you live on) that is a grossly inadequate level for media players which can’t produce a loud enough volume in a noisy environment so you must meter to louder levels like -16 LUFS for mobile audio. Having said that, unless someone is going to measure and reject your work unless you are compliant, there is no real need for a loudness meter. (we’ve been masting audio for decades without them) I’ve mastered several seasons of a PBS show as the finishing editor using an RMS meter and never had my audio rejected. The FCP X Multimeter shows RMS readings. I use the free Voxengo SPAN plug-in to monitor RMS. (Important note: FCP X effects are pre-fader so changing the volume on a clip will not affect the meter.)

I guess the real question that you are asking is, “does it matter for web” and the answer is: No, not really! On the web you are competing with music from CD’s that are compressed and mastered “as loud as it can be” without distorting so most video delivery on the web will target -0.1dbFS peaks with no way of measuring average volume. For web delivery, I use a Brick Wall Limiter on my audio set to -0.3 dbFS and then I master for what sounds right for the content of the video. For broadcast I set the BWL to -10dbFS and target a -24 RMS. For DVD you probably want to use the broadcast standards so that your DVD is the same volume as other TV content.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com

[Gerry Fraiberg]

Thanks for the informative reply, and for the tips on the free plug-ins.

– Gerry Fraiberg
Media Handyman – videographer, editor, photographer, voice over artist.
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http://www.visionandvoice.ca
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[John Rofrano]

You’re welcome. Glad I could help.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com

[Brett Sherman]

[John Rofrano] ” No, not really! On the web you are competing with music from CD’s that are compressed and mastered “as loud as it can be” without distorting so most video delivery on the web will target -0.1dbFS peaks with no way of measuring average volume”

I find the most video on the web is lower volume than CD’s. I would say it tends to be 5db to 10db lower in volume. But in social media these days, few people turn on audio anyways. Remember when people would lecture – “audio is just as important as the image.” I was always skeptical of this claim, and with social media now it is demonstrably untrue.

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Brett Sherman
One Man Band (If it\’s video related I\’ll do it!)
I work for an institution that probably does not want to be associated with my babblings here.