My most target of video is YouTube upload, and offline clients, not for broadcast.
But, should I care of these Loudness Meter where, as I try to understand it, is to keep Integrated value around 0 or -1 to +1 LU ? or just keep the Standard meter not clipping only?
Let me know your opinions.
Hi @set, the standard for streaming music and such is -14 LUFS (Integrated), Not to be confused with peak (dBFS) or RMS. Submissions for broadcast, the loudness MUST be around -24 LUFS, depending on ATSC or EBU.
I use Sound Forge Pro's "Statistics" tool a lot which can render a full report in a matter of seconds.. depending on the length of the file. The online 'Loudness Penalty Analyzer' is another option for audio file loudness measurement, but as I recall the file's length is limited to 5 minutes and some specific audio file types like PCM and MP3.
@set You should care if:
You want your audience to hear the soft parts of your program.
You don't want to blow a fuse in the amplifiers (or ear drums) of your audience.
Your audience might listen to youtube and broadcast on the same system.
Reference:
Hi,
I suggest that you get and install Youlean Loudness Meter (free version works fine).
Apply it to the master strip in the Mixer. It will be pre-fader. In the free version, there are limited parameters for the max. LUFS. I select ASWG P which puts the line at -18 LUFS, but I just use the value to make sure that I don't exceed -14 LUFS for YouTube.
By default, the True Peak Max is or should be set to -1 dB so that the red indicators show up wherever this is exceeded.
For YouTube, as has been mentioned, you must not exceed -14 LUFS and no clipping.
In the image below, you can see that the maximum true peak is 0.0 dB. For this, I would reduce the master fader down by 1 dB. However, I have exceeded the Integrated LUFS with -11.4, so I either have to reduce the gain of one or more events causing this, or reduce the faders of the offending tracks, not the master as you won't know what the result is. I use the meter also on the audio tracks and monitor what is happening there to see where to adjust the gain. For example, you don't want to lower the volume of narration or speech when it's a music event that is causing the perceived loudness (LUFS) to be exceeded.
To learn how to use this meter, I suggest watching the following video:
John CB