Not sure what all this loudness stuff is about and how it affects you? Confused about the difference between LKFS and LUFS? In this six-part series, loudness expert Mike Thornton answers all these questions and many more in his premium tutorial series, which is now available for free, including what loudness is and how it relates to both music production and audio post-production workflows.
We are seeing loudness normalisation in more workflows, not just broadcast audio but music streaming services, too. There is a wide range of Loudness meters out there now, and we thought it would be helpful to provide a round-up of the different options that are now available. We know it is not completely exhaustive, but it covers the main players in the loudness meter plug-in sector.
As a follow-up on Mike’s Understanding Loudness, which is now free, in this article, we are going to cover loudness for music streaming services, including loudness normalisation, album normalisation and how to prepare music tracks for music streaming services, with three free tutorials.
In part four of a free six-part tutorial series, Mike Thornton shares some tips and tricks for mixing to the loudness standards, explains the importance of ‘loudness planning’ before ending with some specific tips and tricks for mixing short form content like adverts and promos. Mike goes on to look at the changes needed to mix content for Netflix.
In part three of a free tutorial series, Mike Thornton covers how to calibrate your monitors. We look at how monitoring should be configured and provide an explanation of bass management and what your sub should be doing before moving on to a practical demonstration of how to calibrate your monitoring with a sound pressure meter.
In part two of a free four-part tutorial series, loudness expert Mike Thornton covers the development of one loudness standard. We explore how we arrived at a loudness measurement algorithm that works just like our ears and the various criteria we use to define and guide us when working to the new loudness delivery specifications.
Not sure what all this loudness stuff is about and how it affects you? Loudness expert Mike Thornton answers all these questions and many more in this six-part series, now available for free. In this first part, we clarify what we mean by loudness.
We are seeing loudness normalisation in more workflows, not just broadcast audio but music streaming services, too. There is a wide range of Loudness meters out there now, and we thought it would be helpful to provide a round-up of the different options that are now available. We know it is not completely exhaustive, but it covers the main players in the loudness meter plug-in sector.
As a follow-up on Mike’s Understanding Loudness, which is now free, in this article, we are going to cover loudness for music streaming services, including loudness normalisation, album normalisation and how to prepare music tracks for music streaming services, with three free tutorials.
In part four of a free six-part tutorial series, Mike Thornton shares some tips and tricks for mixing to the loudness standards, explains the importance of ‘loudness planning’ before ending with some specific tips and tricks for mixing short form content like adverts and promos. Mike goes on to look at the changes needed to mix content for Netflix.
In part three of a free tutorial series, Mike Thornton covers how to calibrate your monitors. We look at how monitoring should be configured and provide an explanation of bass management and what your sub should be doing before moving on to a practical demonstration of how to calibrate your monitoring with a sound pressure meter.
There is a growing need to be able to reversion mixed content to deliver it on a variety of different platforms, often with different delivery specifications. In this article, loudness guru Mike Thornton takes you through the issues, challenges and a range of solutions.
In part two of a free four-part tutorial series, loudness expert Mike Thornton covers the development of one loudness standard. We explore how we arrived at a loudness measurement algorithm that works just like our ears and the various criteria we use to define and guide us when working to the new loudness delivery specifications.
Not sure what all this loudness stuff is about and how it affects you? Loudness expert Mike Thornton answers all these questions and many more in this six-part series, now available for free. In this first part, we clarify what we mean by loudness.
YouTuber Tom Scott has made the most accessible explanation of both the need for, and the method behind loudness workflows we’ve seen. If you feel you need to understand the problem a little better, or you need to explain it to someone less interested than you in loudness-related matters, this video might be what you’re after.
In this article, Dr Neil Hillman discusses new, shocking research that shows that 80% of some viewers rely on subtitles to 'hear' their television programmes and not because they are old or hearing impaired, quite the opposite. He also asks whether it has become the new fashion in television production to be completely ignorant of how sound works.
The Experts team wondered what we thought people would want to find behind the windows of a dream studio advent calendar. Paul’s first choice is Nugen’s VisLM Loudness metering plugin.
Recent research is showing that the use of subtitles on TV has continued to grow, with people choosing to use them. Why is this? If the speech intelligibility of the content we mix is so bad, surely we cannot be doing our job properly. What is going wrong? In this article we investigate and come to some clear conclusions.
According to RTW’s worldwide loudness spec resource, Apple appears to be the first streaming service to issue specific guidelines for loudness in immersive content for its streaming platform. Although the difference is not huge, it is good to see that Apple considers immersive audio a format that deserves its own loudness recommendations. We have the details.
Our friends at iZotope have produced a useful, comprehensive tutorial about how to master for streaming platforms. Whether or not you own iZotope’s mastering plugins such as Ozone, RX and Insight, there’s some great advice to be found here.
To help the growing number of audio professionals creating content for Netflix, the streaming company has produced a tutorial video designed to provide useful advice on how to optimise a mix for their streaming audiences.
Apple Music, the last of the big streaming platforms to adopt Loudness normalisation has adopted -16LUFS as its standard. How does this choice, which is significantly quieter than Spotify, YouTube and the like, affect mastering choices?
Although the message doesn’t seem to have go through to quite everyone, the loudness war is over and has been since streaming platforms introduced loudness normalisation. So should you mix to a loudness target? Mastering Engineer Dave Kutch doesn’t think so.
If you are making content that is destined for any or all of the music streaming services or on-demand services then this article, based on a recent podcast with Bob Katz and Rob Byers, is for you.
In this article Julian shares how he found the ideal solution for his loudness metering needs. By conveniently moving his metering to a mobile device without having to set up the tablet or phone as a second monitor.
“How loud should my master be?” Although at one level, it’s a deceptively simple concept, it can be as complex as music itself. In this article, we share insights into every facet of loudness in mastering.
In this article, Mike Thornton takes a look at the new AES loudness recommendations to see what has changed since 2015.
Are you providing content to broadcasters, mixing a TV show for Netflix, or simply interested in optimising your audio for various platforms? Are you not sure what spec you should be working to? There is an excellent resource listing the most up to date details on the latest delivery standards with regard to audio loudness specifications.
Following our article, Loudness - Everything You Need To Know, we received a request to explain how Leq(m) fits into the Loudness scene. In this article loudness guru Mike Thornton explains what Leq(m) is and what it is used for.
This week's Free Plug-in features dpMeter5 From TBProAudio, a precise digital audio multi channel meter, which can measure in LUFS up to 5.1 channel widths.
Not sure what all this loudness stuff is about and how it affects you? Confused about the difference between LKFS and LUFS? In this article loudness expert Mike Thornton answers all these questions and many more, including what loudness is and how it relates to both music production and audio post-production workflows.
Have you ever wondered what happens once you have delivered your mix to the broadcaster or OTT publisher? Do you know? Should you care? In this article, Damian Kearns asks Michael Nunan, Senior Manager for Broadcast Audio and Post Production Operations at Bell Media to explain what happens next and why we should care.
In this 5-minute free video tutorial, Paul Maunder gives an overview of NUGEN’s VisLM loudness meter plugin. This tutorial is aimed at new users or anyone considering transitioning from another loudness meter to VisLM.
In this video Julian Rodgers demonstrates how easy it is to set up Pro L 2 for streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Netflix continues its work to improve the experience for its subscribers across a variety of devices. In this article, drawn, with permission, from a post on the Netflix Technology Blog, we explore how they measure program dynamic range and then use dialog normalisation and dynamic range reduction to improve the experience for subscribers, especially those using mobile devices.
Steinberg has included an Intelligibility Meter in Nuendo 11. This follows iZotope including an intelligibility meter in their metering suite - Insight 2. It turns out that Steinberg’s Intelligibility Meter has been developed bu the very clever people at Fraunhofer. In its article, we investigate what intelligibility is and why it matters and explore how the new Fraunhofer meter used in Steinberg’s Nuendo 2 works.
In this article, Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe from Nugen Audio will be discussing something that he is regularly asked about at trade shows and conventions. “What is the difference between loudness and True Peak, and how do they relate to each other?” Here is his guide…
Dolby has announced the release of a new version of the Dolby Atmos Production Suite. We have the details…
Loudness in broadcasting has been a long-standing issue. The EBU R128 standard was launched at IBC 10 years ago and as part of a continuing development of the standards, the EBU has just announced EBU R128 s2 to cover streaming services as well as cover a number of other issues. We have the details.
Nugen Audio has released the latest version of their loudness metering software VisLM. V2.8.3 brings 2 new features, one minor - a change to the Netflix stereo preset and one major - the introduction of Flags, which help to visualise Alerts and navigate through them. An added bonus is that whilst we were preparing the video tutorial showing the new features, we discovered an undocumented feature in VisLM from Nugen Audio that is really clever and will save you time and money and so we had to include that in the video tutorial as well!
Back in 2017 we asked Which Loudness Meter Plug-in Do You Use In Pro Tools? and a couple of weeks ago we repeated the question and poll. In this article we analyse whether loudness meter usage has changed during the last 2 years.
At NAB 2019 on the Avid Stage, re-recording mixer for TV Scott Weber, who has mixed shows like Lost, Person Of Interest and Westworld, discussed how to mix TV shows to meet the different US broadcaster’s and Network’s delivery specs and how things vary from network to network and what impact that has on the mix and deliverables.
There are a lot of loudness meters out there and we thought it would be interesting to see which ones are in common usage and why. Please do share your thoughts in the comments and vote for the Pro Tools compatible loudness plug-in that you use the most in the poll.
In this premium video tutorial our resident loudness guru Mike Thornton takes us through how to use the the TC Electronic LM1n loudness metering plug-in. The advantages of the LM1n is that it doesn’t take up much screen real estate and the LM1n’s simpler display also makes it ideal for multi-skilled staff and for use in other sectors like mastering for music streaming and albums.
In this premium video tutorial our resident loudness guru Mike Thornton takes us through how to use the two TC Electronic radar loudness metering plug-ins, the LM2n stereo plug-in and the LM6 multi-channel loudness metering plug-in.
Following the resurrection of Dolby’s Dialog Intelligence with the new Netflix delivery specs and best practice recommendations, in this article, we ask whether Dolby’s algorithm is still fit for purpose as a speech-gating solution?
Mastering Sounds "Overproduced"? - How Wide Is The Bottom End In Your Mix? PureMix and Brian Lucey Might Have The Answer.
The Youlean Loudness Meter a free loudness meter plug-in and unlike some other free loudness meter plug-ins runs on macOS and Windows and supports AAX, VST and AU plug-in formats.
Scott Kramer who is Manager, Sound Technology | Creative Technologies & Infrastructure at Netflix reached out to us to ask if he could respond to our very popular article Has Netflix Turned The Clock Back 10 Years Or Is Their New Loudness Delivery Spec A Stroke Of Genius? We always welcome responses to articles we produce and so welcome Scott’s request to share this thoughts on how this new loudness spec came about.
Whilst at IBC 2018 in Amsterdam we were able to get an exclusive first look at the new Loudness Toolkit suite of plug-ins including LM-Correct, ISL and VisLM which now has new presets for the new Netflix delivery spec with a new loudness parameter, Dialogue LRA as well as new flexibility to simultaneously monitor multiple integrated measurements.
It seemed I started getting emails from people almost as soon as the virtual ink was dry on the latest delivery spec to come from Netflix. People were concerned about the language and the impression that Netflix had turned the clock back 10 years by using Dolby’s Dialog Intelligence software. In this article, we investigate to see if Netflix’s new delivery spec is a retrograde move, a pragmatic response to the changing climate, or a stroke of genius.
It was 1st October 2014 that the Digital Production Partnership required that all UK TV broadcast content had to be delivered with EBU R128 compliant sound. Elsewhere around the world, some territories were ahead and some were behind but on average Loudness has been in our delivery specs for around 4 years now. We wanted to ask the question 'Has Loudness compliance worked or caused more problems than it has solved?'
I have been relatively quiet for a while on the issue of loudness and loudness workflows in a broadcast setting. However, since my last articles on loudness, there have been a number of issues that have been exercising the little grey cells as Agatha Christie's Poirot would say, which I plan to explore further in this article.
Dolby is quietly discontinuing their Media Meter 2 loudness measurement software on August 23rd, 2018. Our friends at Nugen Audio have responded to this with what we think is a very generous offer.
10 years ago this year Russ Hughes started the AIR Users blog, which morphed into Pro Tools Expert in 2012. To kick off our year of celebrations we are running a competition with a Pro Audio gear and software prize pot worth over $28,000. Enter The Pro Tools Expert 10th Anniversary Competition to be in with the chance of winning the Nugen Audio Post Production Pack worth $859, which includes VisLM-H 2, LM-Correct 2, ISL 2, Stereoizer, Monofilter, Stereoplacer, Visualizer, SEQ-S, and the DynApt extension for LM-Correct.
In 2016 our friends at Nugen Audio ran a survey on Streaming Services and you can see the results here. 18 months on they are conducting another survey to see how things have changed over the intervening time with the explosion in the use of music streaming services.
With more and more music tracks being delivered on services that now use loudness normalisation, we no longer need to compress the life out of a song to make it louder than any other track, because tracks that are too loud will just get turned down. We can now enjoy tracks with some dynamic range. In loudness workflows there is a new measurement Loudness Range. Tom Frampton a mastering engineer from Mastering The Mix explains what Loudness Range is and how to use it to help produce tracks with an appropriate amount of dynamic range.
FabFilter Pro-L 2 is a fully featured true-peak mixing and mastering limiter plug-in. The previous version, FabFilter Pro-L, was voted most popular limiter plug-in out of 15+ third party limiters by the Pro Tools Expert Community. How could FabFilter possibly improve on perfection? Well, it appears FabFilter have done so with the addition of several new features along with some major improvements.
Here especially in the UK, the sound mix for Blue Planet 2 has come under fire in the press and on social media. At least it is not another case of Mumblegate, but the complaints are about the music volume being overwhelming and the foley effects being too loud and off-putting. But is this a case of the press whipping it up or are there genuine criticisms here?
A couple of weeks ago we asked you Which Loudness Meter Plug-in Do You Use In Pro Tools? There are a lot of loudness meters out there and we thought it would be interesting to see which ones are in common usage and why. We asked you to vote for the loudness meter plug-in that you use the most in your daily workflow, whether that is in music, mastering or audio post-production work and these are the results.
POWAIR from Sound Radix is a two-stage leveler/compressor plug-in, designed to control dynamics and bring a sense of power to vocals, instruments, and mixes with an introductory price of $119 instead of $149.
There are a lot of loudness meters out there and we thought it would be interesting to see which ones are in common usage and why. Please do share your thoughts in the comments and vote for the Pro Tools compatible loudness plug-in that is compatible with Pro Tools in the poll.
At AES 2017 Nugen Audio have announced an update to ISL 2st and a preview of a 3D immersive extension to Halo Upmix, their acclaimed upmix plug-in.
Are some of our high-end TV dramas and high budget entertainment shows being mixed in suites designed for theatrical releases and is this why we are finding as a family that we are having to resort to sub titles more and more to be able to follow the plot?
Following on from the mumble-gate sagas, with TV shows like Happy Valley and SSGB here in the UK in this article I wanted to explore a variety of issues that affect intelligibility. Intelligibility is a multi-faceted issue and blame cannot be laid at any one door. We start with an intelligibility issue you might not be aware of or even considered could be a problem...
Nugen Audio has released an update to MasterCheck Pro adding two new codecs - FLAC and Opus to its pallette.
In this free video tutorial with the support of Nugen Audio, team member Marcus Huyskens demonstrates how to use the Ducking & Steering meters within the ISL2 True Peal limiter to ensure there are no negative artifacts affecting your mix.
In this second part of our series on Loudness And Dynamics In Cinema Sound, Steven Ghouti AFSI AES, who has worked in film sound for some 23 years, decided to take it upon himself to put out a survey to his fellow audio mixers in the film sound workflow to establish answers to a number of questions regarding the level we mix at, the size of rooms we mix in.
Whether you like it or not we have ended up with a Loudness war in cinema sound. Volume has gone up and dynamics have gone down. So what can be done about it? In the first part of this series on Loudness and Dynamics In Cinema Sound, with the help of Eelco Grimm, we look at how the problem has come about and one solution offered by Eelco.
In this review, Mike Thornton take a look at the new compressor plug-in from Sound Radix. POWAIR isn’t just another compressor, it is a two-stage loudness leveler and compressor plug-in with a number of features that set it apart from other compressor plug-ins.
In this video review Pro Tools Expert team member Dan Cooper takes a look at a very clever metering plug-in called LEVELS by Mastering The Mix.
This brilliant FREE plugin from Nugen Audio is designed to help you compare two different plug-in or two completely different process chains.
In this video review, I take a look at this Junger/Flux Loudness Management Plug-in developed from Junger's hardware solutions. Watch and see how Mike gets on with it and listen as he tries some tricky audio through it. If you are BVE then make sure you drop by theAspen Media stand G30 to see the Junger products for yourself and maybe win a Fitbit Charge HR heart rate and fitness wristband.
Mike gets the first sneak preview of the new Nugen Audio VisLM2 loudness meter. VisLM2 joins ISL2 and LM-Correct2 to make up the new Loudness Toolkit 2 that Nugen Audio will release at NAB 2015. Watch and see the new features Nugen Audio have added to VisLM to make it even better.
Following on from Russ's show & tell review of the new Waves Scheps 73 EQ, Mike takes a look at the other plug-in Waves have just released the WLM Plus. This is a new version of their established Waves Loudness Meter (WLM) and adds a True Peak Limiter and a Trim option, to their loudness meter.
In this video Mike offers a show and tell review of the new metering & visualisation plug-in from iZotope. Look out for his Groove 3 Insight Explained video tutorial series.