http://productionadvice.co.uk/lufs-dbfs-rms/
 
I'd be interested in hearing people's thoughts. I'm trying to get all of my tracks to master out at approximately the same volume,  and stay within loudness guidelines, and am getting more and more confused.
 
I downloaded his pink noise file, and it shows in Sonar as about 3 dB lower than the -11.5 dB he specified. I then changed my stereo panning law from -3 dB center to 0 dB center, but it made no difference in how the meter read the pink noise file.

Good video.
I think I saw others by him before I ...
I got the Klanghelm VUMT meter a while back and have been using it on all projects.
https://klanghelm.com/contents/products/VUMT/VUMT.php

I'll be checking the pink noise file with that.
I don't really think the Sonar meters are very good for reading RMS.

Hangdog Cat
http://productionadvice.co.uk/lufs-dbfs-rms/
 
I'd be interested in hearing people's thoughts. I'm trying to get all of my tracks to master out at approximately the same volume,  and stay within loudness guidelines, and am getting more and more confused.
 
I downloaded his pink noise file, and it shows in Sonar as about 3 dB lower than the -11.5 dB he specified. I then changed my stereo panning law from -3 dB center to 0 dB center, but it made no difference in how the meter read the pink noise file.

What's in your mastering chain?

Sonar's meters reading 3dB low compared to K system meters has been discussed before.

This thread from 2005 might be useful.
http://forum.cakewalk.com...-Metering-m382352.aspx

It has nothing to do with pan laws. Don't change them mid-project, it'll screw up your mix. Your best bet using bundled plugins in SONAR is Adaptive Limiter, which conveniently displays LUFS values.

"What's in your mastering chain?"
 
Usually just Ozone 6 Advanced. I tend to master in place, rather than export a stereo mix and then master that. I find that there's always something I want to change in the mix. Call me wishy-washy.
 
I just bought a UAD-2 Octo card, arriving Tuesday, and then I'll be getting several mastering plugins...compressors, EQs, tape emulations. I'm trying to mostly move away from Ozone because it's such a CPU hog. 
 
"Sonar's meters reading 3dB low compared to K system meters has been discussed before."
 
Thanks...I'll check that article out.
 
"It has nothing to do with pan laws. Don't change them mid-project, it'll screw up your mix. Your best bet using bundled plugins in SONAR is Adaptive Limiter, which conveniently displays LUFS values." 
 
I wondered if they were 2 separate issues. And I haven't yet gotten around to using the Adaptive Limiter, but I've heard nothing but good things about it.
 
Btw, that new help module is a gem. I've already learned so much from it. For those who don't know, just press "y" and it will pop up in your Browser. Hover your mouse over anything in Sonar and the module will display relevant explanatory text.
 
Thanks to all.
 
 
 
 

Hangdog Cat
I'd be interested in hearing people's thoughts. 

Hey good day, 
Thanks for this reference, This has helped me a lot to understand this concept in simple terms, and more so what levels I should be trying to achieve, or being considered standard convention.
Like you say with the pink noise sample file, Sonar meters appear at around -15 dB RMS, although difficult to see accurately, but Izotope Insight gives me a perfect LUFS integrated level of  -11.5.
Thanks again
Cheers 

Thanks for posting that link, Hangdog.

Glad you guys found it useful.
 
One of these days I'll sort it all out and actually know what I'm doing.
 
'Till then I'll muddle through.

So glad I searched for LUFS first, before starting another topic on the subject.
 
I have just spent the last two years working to the K system, mainly K12, for my ambient stuff.
 
Then over on the other forum I frequent, a loudness discussion was started and LUFS was mentioned. I ignored it then, but it raised its head again with respect to someone's track.
 
I had already come across the Ian Shepherd article and associated video, which I found very interesting and it does make a lot of sense.
 
As it happens I had already embarked upon no longer using any compression on any of my creations and even though I have Pro-L on my master buss, I only use it because I like the metering. If something is too hot, now I use automation, in some form or another, to tame any peaks.
 
That said, it appears that I am still mixing (I don't like using the term mastering because I really don't know what I am doing) a bit too high. Talk on the street is, for ambient stuff, I should be hitting between -18 to -16 LUFS, integrated (over the length of a track).
 

bitflipperYour best bet using bundled plugins in SONAR is Adaptive Limiter, which conveniently displays LUFS values.

Thanks for pointing that out, Dave. Because I already had Pro-L, which can display RMS to the K system, I didn't bother trying Adaptive Limiter when it was introduced into SONAR. My initial question about this tool is, it doesn't give me a peak integrated LUFS level and once a track starts to fade, or get louder, the LUFS value changes too.
 
Ian Shepherd used something called LCAST but that is something like $200 and I'm not sure I can afford that at the moment.
 
 
So I am now looking into what other tools are out there that I can use just to meter, in terms of LUFS.