• SONAR
  • What would be a proper -db level radio play
2016/11/12 16:05:43
Matthew737@yahoo.com
Hello,
 
Everytime I finish a project i like to see if new projects sound range is compatible with Radio Play. Both loud songs and soft songs will have different levels for -.db   
 
Thanks for you input.  
 
Matthew
2016/11/12 16:25:44
chuckebaby
mix it, master it and when mastering, Do not going over 0dB and leaving extra headroom.
Radio boosts your material already (compression), so need to do anything different. just mix it first (leaving -6 to -9 dB) then master it as normal getting as close to 0 as possible but not pinning it on 0dB constantly. need to let it breath, dynamics. 
2016/11/12 19:54:35
KingsMix
You should be looking at or more concerned with RMS level.
I think Izotope still has a free pdf on mastering and in it they give you the approx different RMS level you should be shooting for , for different genres of music. Just a starting point though, since all song material is different.
2018/03/01 22:35:29
Matthew737@yahoo.com
Thanks guys for your input!!!
 
Matt
2018/03/01 22:55:14
Cactus Music
As said you need to read up on Average RMS level.
 
Peak Level does not tell you how loud a song is.  A song with a lot of transients will overdrive your peak level but might still come out at a low average RMS reading.    There are a few other standards but generally Average RMS  of between -12 and -14 is the benchmark ( for Rock) . Classical music has a different reading than metal for sure but pop music is more or less in the middle ground.  
As said you need a tool to analyze your song. Example Wav Lab can do this. 
Sonar will need a plug in as mentioned isotope is a good one. 
And final proof is using your ears. These reading just put you much closer to the truth. 
2018/03/02 00:10:12
John T
To simply answer the question in the thread title: forget about standard -db digital meter values completely. They will not help you on this.
2018/03/02 00:11:26
John T
Arg, I wrote out a whole long reply to this, which I've accidentally edited into the above, and now I can't get it back.
2018/03/02 00:13:01
John T
Short version: read up on LUFS. That's the new standard measure. And know that -14 LUFS is your target. And know that that this is way, way quieter than masters have been for the last 15 years or so.
 
Ian Shepherd (mastering engineer) has a lot of good material on his website about this.

God damn it. That was the best post I've written in ages.
 
2018/03/02 00:14:13
John T
Ah! Managed to find it with use of the Firefox back button. Thanks Firefox. Here you go:
-----
This is all changing quite quickly, and I have recently ran into a serious problem with it, which I luckily got to fix for the final release.
 
Increasingly, both radio and online streaming are standardising around an LUFS measure (Loudness Units Full Scale, to give it its full name). So not peaks, and not RMS, though it has something in common with RMS. I'm not the right person to explain LUFS with any clarity, so go and look that up yourself.
 
Or don't. You don't really need to understand it. What you need is a decent LUFS meter plugin, and enough knowledge to read it. Ozone 8 does good LUFS metering.

You also need the awareness that the current landscape is: YouTube will turn your track up or down to play back at a level of -14 to -12 LUFS. I think Spotify and Apple Music are closer to the -14 end of that. And most radio broadcasters are falling in line, though generally even *lower*. The BBC target around -20 LUFS for most programming, though I think there's some leeway for music shows.
 
The net result of this is that the loudness wars are over. Really. There is now not only not a benefit to a really loud master. It's worse than that. A really loud master will get turned down overall, or compressed into oblivion. And it's not a subtle thing. You will know it when you hear it.
 
Except like that crazy japanese soldier they found in the mid 70s living on an island somewhere who thought WWII was still on, people are still slamming the masters. But on digital, your slammed master will just get turned down, and on radio, it will get compressed far beyond the point of ugliness.
 
I was struggling with this idea, as I'm so used to people asking for really hot masters, and -14 LUFS is not remotely hot. So I initially delivered a master of an album at about -10 LUFS. Which is still fairly quiet, in "slammed master" terms, and will barely touch a good mastering limiter.

One of the songs got a preview play on BBC radio before we sent the stuff off for duplication and it was *horrible*. The broadcast compressor audibly pumped all the life out of it. And we did a private youtube test, and youtube turned it down by a full -5dB. So we we made a way, way quieter master. One of the revised versions got on the radio a couple of days ago, and sounded great.

So like I say, the war is over, but there is a wrinkle. If you're not going to radio or the bigger streaming platforms, then you should note that Soundcloud and Bandcamp currently don't do any LUFS based volume management. So if your main platform is Soundcloud, slamming the master will make your track sound louder than other tracks. Whether that's worth having is a matter for your own judgement. But if you've got something that's going to actual radio, go and research current thinking about LUFS.
2018/03/02 21:27:51
nexus7jc
In this link there is a brief explanation of loudness and its different measures:
 
https://www.tcelectronic.com/brand/tcelectronic/loudness-explained
 
Also a table with the measures adopted by the main streaming services:
 
Table Updated May 2017
 
          Streaming Service                         Playback Level      
  • Apple Music *Soundcheck On*            -16 LUFS 
  • YouTube                                            - 13 LUFS 
  • Spotify                                             - 14 LUFS
  • Tidal                                                - 14 LUFS
 
 
It is advisable to use measurement plugins for greater control of loudness, this being one of my favorites:
- MasterCheck Pro by NuGen Audio http://www.nugenaudio.com/mastercheckpro-playout-loudness-dynamics-codec-metering-aax-au-vst_60
Greetings.
 
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