This week Sonic Academy proudly welcomes back Techno giant Kirk Degiorgio as he takes an in-depth look at Loudness and Metering when it comes to mixing and mastering our tracks.
We’ve all heard of the ‘Loudness Wars’ that can be traced back to the introduction of the compact disc, pushing the digital limit with the belief that customers preferred louder-sounding CDs. In today’s world, however, producers are faced with restrictions placed on their music by different online platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Tidal etc.
Over these 12 videos, Kirk looks at de-mystifying some of the terminology used, shedding light on what they mean, how different levels are calculated and demonstrates some of the tools on offer to help get our tracks to optimum levels without being affected by online platform restrictions.
Using real-world examples you’ll not only get to grips with acronyms such as LUFS, PLR, RMS and K-Metering but after watching this detailed course, you’ll also be armed with the knowledge and tools to make sure your track is getting played and heard the way you intended.
@Kirk_Degiorgio Thanks a lot for this excellent tutorial that hopefully will demystify this quite confusing “Loudness” science and bring people to review their old “make it loud” mixing & mastering habits which is now totally depreciated when it comes to streaming & digital music distribution platforms.
In addition to the plugins you show & mention in these videos, it’s good to mention that iZotope just released Insight 2 with improved features & new loudness targets presets ( though they’re more aiming at the broadcasting world, but they do have a standard AES norm at -16 ). I wish that they will add future presets aiming at digital distribution.
I also suggest people to have a look at the M.A.A.T DRMeter MkII which was released a few month ago. One of the audio engineer behind this plugin is no one else than Friedemann Tischmeyer who is well known for his mastering techniques trainings & work with Steinberg.
As an insight about your question about a good range TP limit to set, the numerous presets within the DRMeter MkII plugin are all set to -0.5 dB for all online digital music platforms.
( Head up to the forums to view the full post and access the screen shot picture )
It is very helpful and useful tutorial, thanks for all proper explanations!
BUT, forgive me if i wrong, sound of your microphone is so LO-FI and so CHEAP recorded that makes me feel a bit confused about all things you are talking about in this very wanted tutorial… or that not an issue in that case?!
Best regards and full respect anyway
Been through the all series of videos and didn’t have any problem with this. Have you been listening with headphones or monitors or directly on laptop / computer speakers perhaps ?? Only during few moments the music playing from the DAW was a bit louder than the voice over but Kirk Degiorgio took care of reducing the master level on the DAW each time and explained also about that.
Definitely not an issue here, the voice over is not a part of the track, nor was it intended to be mixed like broadcast or movie voice over.
wondering what if you’d have a club mix, which is f*cking loud. Say -5 or -6 lufs. Can you simply strip the whole volume back with a gain before the limiter to achieve the loudness compatible for the digital platforms?
The thing is a tend to mix very loud with only a limiter on.
@MIEL Better think the other way around I believe since adding gain before the limiter to decrease/increase what’s going in will definitely not have the same effect as working on each track right from the start.
It’s a totally different approach here and mixing at lower levels using these techniques will allow you to retain dynamic, clarity, being less fulled by your ears for low end and you’ll still be able to push your limiter at the final mixing/mastering stage in order to reach those club levels. It’s not rare to see audio engineers pushing up limiters by 12/14 dB in fact at mastering stage.
Yes, I second this, even as a non native English speaking person
Listening to Kirk Degiorgio comments in his tutorials is always great, you learn a lot, the right words are used and the teaching is given in a very fluid flow making his courses very pleasant to follow.
Yep, it’s definitely an “intermediate & advanced” tutorial as suggested by the course tags, that said I think it really helps to dive into this topic and Kirk Degiorgio is right on point in this one IMO.
