ULTRABRA
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K-system using Fab Filter Pro-L
I'm trying to get my head around using the K-system for mastering a track, using Fab Filter's Pro-L.
If I use K-14, is the idea that the white line (RMS level) should be more or less at 0db? If I understood that right I have 2 questions :
1. The White Line/RMS level fluctuates up and down quite a lot --- how am I supposed to estimate it as "averaging" zero?
2. When I have approximated the overall level at this 0db point, the audio is not having any peaks over -1db --- so no red peaks where the limiting is squashing down. Is this normal --- a silly question I suppose, but to get a good overall final level it is not always necessary to have the audio's peak go above 0db at any point?
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clintmartin
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Re: K-system using Fab Filter Pro-L
2015/05/18 07:48:32
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Voxengo's Span will show the Average. I also like T-racks metering "perceived loudness" tool.
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bitflipper
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Re: K-system using Fab Filter Pro-L
2015/05/18 08:55:39
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Yes, the levels are going to jump around, or at least you hope they do. Any song that sticks at one level is going to be musical oatmeal. But it's not a precise process.
What you have to do is decide how much of a range you want and then get the meter to spend about equal time below and above the 0dB mark. I like to shoot for an 8dB range, meaning the quietest parts hit around 4dB below the zero line and the loudest parts don't exceed ~ 4dB above it.
These limits are a personal preference and may not be appropriate for every song and every genre. Modern pop and dance music don't allow that much variance, while a film score might have double that range. You just need to experiment until you settle on guidelines that fit your own style.
 All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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ULTRABRA
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Re: K-system using Fab Filter Pro-L
2015/05/18 09:28:12
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Thanks Clint - I had never though to use Span for that before.
Thanks Bit --- that would mean, if you aim for 4 above and below the line, you won't ever hit the limit with any peaks?
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bitflipper
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Re: K-system using Fab Filter Pro-L
2015/05/18 18:36:10
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When you use the K-14 scale you're giving yourself 14 dB of headroom before you hit the absolute limit. So while you still might hit the real 0dB mark on some peaks, they'd have to be some pretty big peaks. The -14 dB you're looking at is an RMS rather than a peak target.
BTW, I too like to use SPAN for final metering. It's just a little easier for my weak eyes to follow than Pro-L's meter.
All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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clintmartin
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Re: K-system using Fab Filter Pro-L
2015/05/18 22:23:30
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ULTRABRA
Thanks Clint - I had never though to use Span for that before.
No problem. I use span for this purpose often because I like to shoot for -14 rms as a goal. It seems to me at -14 rms I can just do everything to taste and the dynamic range takes care of itself, but I don't compress or limit more than a db or two each. Keep in mind...I'm a hack. Bitflipper knows what he's doing! Hahaha!
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ULTRABRA
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Re: K-system using Fab Filter Pro-L
2016/01/17 16:15:30
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Just coming back to this subject, I'm still not totally sure if I'm understanding it correctly.
I've brought in a finished WAV file of a song into a new project, to do some Mastering.
I used the K-14 metering whilst mixing so I've got plenty of headroom.
Last in my chain in Pro-L, again set for metering K-14, and I aim to have the white line flickering around the 0db on average. At the end of the song I see the highest actual peak is real -2.4db (+11.6db on the k-14 scale). Meaning, I havn't had anything go above the real 0db (+14db on the K-14 scale). Is this OK, since the average level I'm getting is OK? Or should I always be wanting to push some levels over real 0db, so the limiter is actually cutting some peaks (this is what I would normally do, but in this case the white line would then be going to be running above the 0db line)?
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bitflipper
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Re: K-system using Fab Filter Pro-L
2016/01/18 09:01:49
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RMS levels and perceived volume are more important than peak levels and absolute headroom.
If you were to push the average level up so that the highest peaks got closer to, say, -0.5 to -1 dB, the final volume might be excessive. If the final destination is a CD, that may be perfectly OK. But if your material is subsequently reprocessed by iTunes, YouTube or radio, it could be harmed if you've pushed the levels too high.
Personally, I like to see occasional peaks getting up around -0.5 dB, but only if doing so doesn't increase average RMS beyond my target. If my overall volume is already where I want it to be, but the peaks seem low, I'll check for excessive drum compression/limiting and maybe let the drums pop out more.
But that assumes highly-percussive material. If it was acoustic folk or orchestral music, I'd be quite happy with -2.4 dB peaks.
All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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