I just finished recording a song (Live Like You are Dying) tonight sung by one of my long time singers whose dad just died and the song will be at his funeral on Saturday. She asked me to put a slideshow together with the song and have it to the church on Friday.
 
I use Sony Vegas as a fun hobby and such but not so seriously and I want to make sure I get this right.
 
Here's the thing, actually a couple of things.
 
One, when I master my songs (little "m" / ozone), they compete fine with radios and CDs for levels, but when I put a DVD together using one the same songs, it blows the sound away compared to TV levels or other DVDs for that matter and I have to rush to turn down the sound. It is not distorted as in clipping, it is just very loud compared to other TV stations. So I make it a practice of turning the master levels down quite a bit in Sony before creating a DVD in Architect. Is that normal? Is there some kind of a rule e.g. -5dB level in Vegas for DVDs?
 
Two, is there a rule of thumb for # of slides per minute of song e.g. a new slide every 5 seconds? Is it a good idea to time the changes with the song beat? Or just be creative and vary them?
 
Thanks, any ideas are appreciated as a LOT of people will be there so I don't want to make her rendition as requested by her dad look or sound bad in any way.

Commercial CD's are often mastered with average levels running  around -14dbfs or even -12dbfs depending on the material. DVD audio levels from video programs are made with RMS levels at about -20dbfs.

SuperG
Commercial CD's are often mastered with average levels running  around -14dbfs or even -12dbfs depending on the material. DVD audio levels from video programs are made with RMS levels at about -20dbfs.

No, commercial CD's are averaging -6 to -7 db rms or a lot of the ones I have tested are. -14 db rms is where a pre mastered track usually is.
 
Sounds to me you don't know how to measure the average or rms leve of a commercial CD. Here is how you do it.
 
Place a (stereo) test tone say -14 dB FS (continuous that is where the peaks of the sinewave are hitting -14. on a stereo interleaved track. (ignore what Sonar says too. It will show -17 rms because it is reading the rms value as being 3 dB down from peak. This is incorrect BTW and it should actually show -14 like it does in every other DAW!) Send this to your main outs. Put a VU meter on the track (or main out) and calibrate the meter so -14 will show 0 dB VU.
 
Take a typical loud commercial pop track say and rip it to a wave file and without touching anything put that on the track that had the test tone on it.
 
The VU will slam over to the right now. Lower the track level now until the ripped wave is just hitting 0 dB VU.
 
Note how far down the channel fader has to be in order for that to happen. eg it might typiclly be -8. Add 8 dB now to -14 and you get -6. That is where the commercial CD is.
 
Unless you are doing it this way you will never have an accurate picture of where commercial CD levels are really at. Anything else is speculation.
 
You may come across some CD's that are softer than this and this is nice when it happens. For example Steely Dan's 'Everything Must Go' is averaging -12 like SuperG said before and this is nice but not common though. It is usually louder than that.
 
DVD audio is mastered well below these levels. You need to find out what they are and adjust your master accordingly. One way to it would be connect the audio out of a DVD player and then connect that to your DAW and record a commercial CD first! Then without touching anything put in a DVD and record the audio. Measure the (rms) difference between the two recordings.

Hi Robby,
 I don't have an answer for you about the levels but it has to be something that will seem obvious once you figure it out, so I suggest you go inspect your work flow and the signal chain and find it. You can try a simple and short test tone and find out where the level does something you don't expect to happen. 
 
 With regards to the pacing of the photos; be creative. Editing on the beat can work but it can also get tiresome. Editing between beats often times can seem thoughtful and artistic. Just follow your instinct.
 
 best regards,
mike

Jeff Evans

SuperG
Commercial CD's are often mastered with average levels running  around -14dbfs or even -12dbfs depending on the material. DVD audio levels from video programs are made with RMS levels at about -20dbfs.

No, commercial CD's are averaging -6 to -7 db rms or a lot of the ones I have tested are. -14 db rms is where a pre mastered track usually is.
 
Sounds to me you don't know how to measure the average or rms leve of a commercial CD. Here is how you do it.
 
Place a (stereo) test tone say -14 dB FS (continuous that is where the peaks of the sinewave are hitting -14. on a stereo interleaved track. (ignore what Sonar says too. It will show -17 rms because it is reading the rms value as being 3 dB down from peak. This is incorrect BTW and it should actually show -14 like it does in every other DAW!) Send this to your main outs. Put a VU meter on the track (or main out) and calibrate the meter so -14 will show 0 dB VU.
 
Take a typical loud commercial pop track say and rip it to a wave file and without touching anything put that on the track that had the test tone on it.
 
The VU will slam over to the right now. Lower the track level now until the ripped wave is just hitting 0 dB VU.
 
Note how far down the channel fader has to be in order for that to happen. eg it might typiclly be -8. Add 8 dB now to -14 and you get -6. That is where the commercial CD is.
 
Unless you are doing it this way you will never have an accurate picture of where commercial CD levels are really at. Anything else is speculation.
 
You may come across some CD's that are softer than this and this is nice when it happens. For example Steely Dan's 'Everything Must Go' is averaging -12 like SuperG said before and this is nice but not common though. It is usually louder than that.
 
DVD audio is mastered well below these levels. You need to find out what they are and adjust your master accordingly. One way to it would be connect the audio out of a DVD player and then connect that to your DAW and record a commercial CD first! Then without touching anything put in a DVD and record the audio. Measure the (rms) difference between the two recordings.

 
I just tested a commercial CD released in 2012 by Dan Lethbridge
 
Here is what Adobe Audition's amplitude analysis process yielded as results:
 
Dan lethbridge, Oh Hawke, released 2012
Average RMS Power:      Left         Right
Track 01
Average RMS Power: -12.51 dB    -12.87 dB
Track 02
Average RMS Power: -12.4 dB      -12.89 dB
Track 03
Average RMS Power: -14.87 dB     -15.16 dB
Track 04
Average RMS Power: -11.34 dB    -11.14 dB
Track 05
Average RMS Power: -13.21 dB    -13 dB
Track 06
Average RMS Power: -17.29 dB    -17.36 dB
Track 07
Average RMS Power: -11.88 dB    -11.13 dB
Track 08
Average RMS Power: -11.68 dB     -11.92 dB
Track 09
Average RMS Power: -15.71 dB     -15.84 dB
Track 10
Average RMS Power: -12.52 dB     -12.52 dB
 
 
 
The "No." and the "you don't know how" stuff seems rude and tiresome... especially when the post ends with the admission that you can easily find CDs that are well below -6 to -7 dBFS avereage. 
 
BTW, the album I analyzed was mastered by my good friend Jeff Evans. ;-)
 
 
 

Out of curiosity I just analyzed the smash hit of the 2013 pop charts: Royals by Lorde.
 
Average RMS Power: -11.8 dB -11.82 dB
 
A grammy award winning song:
 
Winner: Best Pop Solo Performance
Winner: Song of the Year
 
Nominated and 3rd Place: Best Pop Vocal Album

I did the same thing for a friend using Vegas. I made sure the track levels weren't over and put the Wavehammer plug using preset selection on it and worked out perfectly.
Sony's Wavehammer is pretty darn good IMO.

Wavehammer was my goto when doing audio tracks there - excellent compressor.
 
I recall a characteristic of Vegas metering - a sine wave will read 3db down vs a square wave, which is correct power behavior. I do not know if there is a standard for DAW metering references.
 
Audio levels on DVD are related to an SMTP standard (and Dolby too) - the average levels (dialog and such) hang around -20db to give plenty of head room for sound effects. We normally adjust the sound levels on our television based on our perception of how loud the dialog sounds. Therefore, this should be your target reference. It's not an absolute, music can be louder or softer as the production requires. Just note that if you use CD levels - those levels are way above the levels used on DVD's (and Blu-ray's too).
 
In broadcast, it should be noted that 'normalization' is a trend that is taking over in response to loud commercials and other annoyances. As broadcast material is pre-analyzed to determine its average levels - necessary attenuation will be applied to bring it into proper average level. Because of this trend, extremely loud levels won't appear any louder than a piece without such extreme level. The the less louder piece will still have capabilities for greater dynamics, whereas the loud piece has already lost them.
 
 

Just goes to show you I have a lot to learn about audio levels and a lot to look into e.g. the the Wavehammer plug.
 
Anyway thanks to all the great responses above, I have a much better idea of how to get to the final product on Friday. An audio blowout at a funeral is not something to write home about :)
 
Thanks so much again for the great and thoughtful help and advice that I really needed.

No, you are incorrect Mike. What you have done here is show the average rms power but failed to mention the maximum rms power. Track 8, I think is probably the loudest track on that CD. The maximum rms power is around -5.3 dB which is pretty darn loud! (which you conveniently forgot to mention) Dan actaully got me to push the album in particular that track. Although overall I agree it is one of the more quieter albums I have mastered.
 
Note how much time track 8 is up at maximum rms power, most of the time. Yes the average rms power is a useful measurement but it is averaging the rms power over the whole length of the track which is only one aspect of the level but not the whole story. It takes in the quiet sections too even if they are only few and far between but what that does is cloud the issue and gives a slightly incorrect reading.
 
So this track is damn loud and that is the end of the story. In fact I did not realise I had pushed it as far as I have. The reality is once the intro is over it is pumping and stays that way. Your average rms measurements don't actually tell the true story of the track.
 
I have to pull the channel fader down 8 dB to get that track to just reach 0db VU (on a -14 dB calibrated meter that is) and that is the real story.
 
Average rms levels don't factor (well) in how much time a signal is at maximum rms. This track is fine example. What you are doing Mike is taking the scientific or mathematical approach to this but fail in the practical view which is that track 8 is slammin for most of the track and that is where the perceived volume is.
 
Dan is happy with the level now. I wanted to master it softer believe me but he pushed me on that and insisted it match most of the stuff he was checking it against on itunes. It only just gets up there compared to the rest. I recently mastered a Hip Hip album and it is louder than 'O Hawke'! The approcah I used in measuring how loud a commercial CD is very valid and accurate. Moral of the story is don't be fooled by average rms levels. They don't really tell the true story only part of it. (In fact it is out by an average of 5db most of the time !) It is where the volume control has to be on your amplifier, that is where the action is.
 
It is easy to sit back and express scientific or mathematical views but in reality it is different surviving professionally which I have done for 34 years now, composing, producing and mastering over 60 CD's now for real clients with real money. I also teach sound engineering. I wonder how well you would do under these circumstances. I have real and practical approaches to real problems. No, it is you that is tiresome!
 
Let us get back to the OP more importantly. Well SuperG brings up a good point about rms levels sitting around -20 dB perhaps for DVD's and things. If the OP has got a track up to commercial levels then we can assume then he is mastering 10 to 12 db higher than where a DVD level might be which is a serious amount louder. No wonder he has to reach for the volume control! I have produced many soundtracks for TV and found the same thing too. I used to master them loud but when the cues were dropped into the video edit they ended up slammin. The video guys then had to bring the track right down. So for a while I was hearing loud mastered tracks turned right down which was not so good. After a while I stopped that of course and just mastered around -14 db rms or lower and just left it at that. In fact I skipped the mastering chain almost all together. (limiter at least) The music then sounded much nicer and they were not having to attentuate levels very much at all.
 
I love 4'33' too!