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wuhan_87 5 February 2019

I've read that the difference between the RMS level or average volume level and the peaks in an audio track is a good determination of the amount of dynamics in the track. According to which kind of project your working on and what it will be used for, I realize that these may differ. I've read for TV commercials especially, heavy compression is used so that the final mix can be pushed up to maximum amplitude. I am curious to know for each of the following, what would be your desirable final RMS and peak values and why? I am still trying to understand this a little more.

  • commercial on the web:
  • commercial on TV:
  • film narration on the web:
  • film narration on TV:
  • web animation:
  • e-learning/corporate videos:

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pcrecord Wed, 02/06/2019 - 06:56

Welcome to RO Wuhan,

I don't have the exact numbers but the industry is gradually changing for LUFS measurment, which streaming platforms like Youtube already adopted.
Usually a CD will go around -9 LUFS and streaming -13 LUFS.
I use Fabfilter L2 limiter which does the lufs metering.

When I do audio for VO or e-learning, the customer is the one that ask for specific format and levels.
I'm going to monitor this thread for I want to know as well ;)

Mat Zaha Mon, 08/10/2020 - 06:36

There are now laws for TV commercials and broadcasting the use LUFS measurements around -24 LUFS. As for streaming, although the platforms normalize the audio, I find without mastering to squash the level a little it leaves things lacking for small speakers and comparison to other releases. I have done many tests, I think i'll write an article on it, and leaving a minimum of 2dB headroom helps significantly when converting to a lossy format. It avoids many artifacts in the stereo field, and since most streaming is optimized for mobile devices, they tend to have great compression algorithms that will destroy highly stereo tracks so try to leave a bit of headroom for those specific platforms. Hope this helps!

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