Measuring loudness

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Marco Raaphorst
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10 Feb 2015


What do you use for measuring loudness? I use a LUFS plugin in Ableton most of the time but would love to use something in Reason. No RE at the moment is offering what I want. The Flower Audio Loudness Meter RE looks ok but measures only very short periods. Why not ALSO measure the whole song in LUFS? That would be much better. Is this a RE limitation maybe? 

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selig
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10 Feb 2015

I don't know if it's a limitation or a lack of interest maybe? I'm not preparing audio directly for broadcast, and as such I've not found a need to conform to any standards. If you are trying to mix super loud, or mix super dynamic, and you know your mix will be broadcast, it may become more important. But my simple ways of measuring loudness with the Big Meter are so far beyond what I've ever had before, and also beyond my needs for the most part. I find I hit my rough target (12 dB crest factor on average) 90% of the time without looking, but even if I didn't I'm not worried about it!

If you simply compare your mix to a good commercial reference, your ears will EASILY tell you which one is louder - you don't need a tool for that - in fact, all tools of that sort are still struggling to try to assign a numeric value to something that we humans can already easily do! 

Besides that, even if you don't hit the loudness standard exactly, the processing is SO much more gentle these days that you'd hardly notice it. Again, if you're pushing either the loud or soft boundaries you may have more reason for concern. I have come to my understanding of the issue by being lucky to have an older brother who has been one of the top radio broadcast engineers in his career (Chief Engineer for Z100 in NYC for most of the 1990s), which has definitely helped me understand what commercial radio will do to your mix. But so much of what they do is specific for the medium - the processing for broadcast TV would be different, for example. And these days the processing is much more transparent than ever before.

To sum it up, you are speaking of a broadcast standard for loudness, right? If I KNEW my mix was going to be commercially broadcast I'd definitely not trust myself to master it! In other words, if I'm are getting commercial broadcast exposure (which is rare indeed) it's time for the pros to step in IMO. ;)
Selig Audio, LLC

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Marco Raaphorst
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10 Feb 2015

I understand what you're saying but if a client simply wants something at -23 LUFS for the whole track that is super easy with the right software. What do you find complicated about it so you don't want to master it yourself? I have done many things for radio this way. It's really easy imo.

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selig
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10 Feb 2015

Marco Raaphorst wrote:I understand what you're saying but if a client simply wants something at -23 LUFS for the whole track that is super easy with the right software. What do you find complicated about it so you don't want to master it yourself? I have done many things for radio this way. It's really easy imo.
I don't have the tools for this type of work, neither have I been asked to deliver a master at one of these levels. I suppose I could invest in this type of tool but if I find I'm needing it, but for now there's no need! I guess it totally depends one what type of clients you work with, and what you are being asked to do. :)
Selig Audio, LLC

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Marco Raaphorst
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10 Feb 2015

I understand. For me a RE doing this would be cool :)

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JoshuaPhilgarlic
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10 Feb 2015

Measure has a R128 mode :) .

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Marco Raaphorst
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10 Feb 2015

thanks!!

kloeckno
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10 Feb 2015

JoshuaPhilgarlic wrote:Measure has a R128 mode :) .
Yes, it appears the "integrated" R128 mode on the back panel gives you the loudness of the entire track.

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Marco Raaphorst
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10 Feb 2015

very cool. in minimal folded version it shows everything I want to know. I am missing the manual of it, website contains old version and doesn't offer 100% clearness on all settings http://redrocksound.ru/products/measure bit of a bummer. but... yeah, interesting RE!

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Marco Raaphorst
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10 Feb 2015

JoshuaPhilgarlic wrote:Measure has a R128 mode :) .
kloeckno wrote:Yes, it appears the "integrated" R128 mode on the back panel gives you the loudness of the entire track.
Yes, and it's also shown by default in folded minimalised format. Smart!

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