This dance choreo by Dytto has me addicted to Billie Eilish's 'Lovely'. She is only 16 and can write songs like that!
Isn't it lovely, all alone?
Heart made of glass, my mind of stone
Tear me to pieces, skin and bone
Hello, welcome home
Mel David
I was wondering what levels to master at if uploading to SoundCloud or YouTube. Last time I read articles I thought new standard was:
-16 dB LUFS for iTunes (not an ISO standard, just internet community agreed)
-24 db LUFS for US TV
-23 dB LUFs for European TV (this is a real standard with breach fines if you are a broadcaster)
Keep in mind movie audio has more dynamic range than music.
DVDs/CDs/physical media don't have to conform to any broadcast standards. So don't be surprised if Batman Begins is mixed real loud, while E.T. is mixed soft.
Anyway, I analysed the following pop tracks (.m4a files purchased via iTunes) using Adobe Audition's Amplitude Statistics and here are the results:
Katy Perry
Mindmaze -9.39 LUFS
Power -8.61 LUFS
Witness -8.59 LUFS
Dua Lipa
Last Dance -8.74 LUFS
New Rules -8.75 LUFS
They are definitely louder than -16 dB LUFS. A good 7 dB louder.
If your iTunes preferences have Sound Check enabled then all songs will playback roughly the same audio level which is -16dB LUFS. If Sound Check is disabled then they will play back without any volume adjustment.
Earliest in-depth article I've read about loudness normalisation: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/end-loudness-war
More recent: https://ask.audio/articles/spotify-drops-loudness-target-to-14-lufs-what-does-this-mean-for-producers
When uploading music, some hosting sites will do their own processing of the audio to make sure it is not too loud. SoundCloud doesn't. You can still engage in loudness battles in SoundCloud. :p
I'm just interested in this stuff for consistency reasons so all my tracks are the same volume. This is when these LUFS loudness readings are really useful.
alanzo
LUFS? Is that a way to average the db level in your track? Neat idea, may have to start using that.
DJ RANN
quote:
Originally posted by Mel David
I was wondering what levels to master at. Last time I read articles I thought the new standard was -16 dB LUFS for iTunes, and -23 db LUFS for Hollywood movies.
Anyway, I analysed the following pop tracks using Adobe Audition's Amplitude Statistics and here are the results:
Katy Perry
Mindmaze -9.39 LUFS
Power -8.61 LUFS
Witness -8.59 LUFS
Dua Lipa
Last Dance -8.74 LUFS
New Rules -8.75 LUFS
They are definitely louder than -16 dB LUFS. A good 7 dB louder.
I'll have to check but I think you're confusing -16dbfs and -18dbfs calibration with LUFS.
With dbfs, you calibrate the speaker system for pop/commercial music to-1dbfs using pink noise and a C weighted scale:
You needan uncorrelated stereo pink noise file. Your object is to play one speaker a time anyway and to have a calibrated monitor control marked in dB. With the file that you can download from us, played at unity gain, ONE SPEAKER on only at a time, with the microphone at the listening position, monitor control set to 0 dB, adjust the gain of your DAC until you get 83 dB C weighted, slow position, for each speaker.
If you then play both speakers, you should get a 3db rise. more or less, something is off.
bear in mind that different pink noise generators actually put out different scale of -20dbfs (i.e. they're slightly different) but the built in one in pro tools is a decent benchmark. Here's a link in case:
Just add 2db to the 83 to get to -18 or 4db to get to -16.
Mel David
No Rann, not talking about speaker calibration. I don't bother with that as I don't have an optimal setup anyhow. Non-treated room. Sometimes I monitor with cans, sometimes with HR824s, sometimes the HT system.
Just concerned with the finalized audio files that you upload to YouTube or SoundCloud. There has to be some 'agreed' loudness standard and some form of consistency so all your music sounds about the same level, compared to your own, and compared to other peoples'.
evo8
quote:
Originally posted by Mel David
No Rann, not talking about speaker calibration. I don't bother with that as I don't have an optimal setup anyhow. Non-treated room. Sometimes I monitor with cans, sometimes with HR824s, sometimes the HT system.
Just concerned with the finalized audio files that you upload to YouTube or SoundCloud. There has to be some 'agreed' loudness standard and some form of consistency so all your music sounds about the same level, compared to your own, and compared to other peoples'.
haha ever heard of the loudness wars? basically you try to make your music louder than everyone elses so it sounds better on beatport
Mel David
Loudness wars are over for TV & Radio. Most of the internet has adopted loudness normalisation also. Notice that YouTube ads aren't louder than the interrupted program.
Clubs and public venues have noise level limits laws in place to prevent hearing loss for patrons.
The society of audio engineers decided a few years ago that the loudness wars was ruining the quality of music. Everybody trying to be louder just resulted in everything being super squashed, with no dynamics, no life, and in some cases distorted audio.
And there was a lot of people complaining that TV commercials were way too loud compared to the program.
Check out Sia's Chandelier closely and you'll find ugly sounding distortion--although this particular example may be just the producer thinking a distortion plugin sounded good.
Here's some info and tools about mastering for iTunes:
https://www.apple.com/au/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/
Mel David
Another one, lol. They just get sillier & sillier.
Rodri Santos
i still make some psytrance/full on, uplifting mainstream here and there but the real fun for me is 120-130bpm experimental trance, sadly there are very few labels releasing this stuff.
Mel David
There is a reason why they say you are selling your soul to the devil when you sign a record contract. If you want to be an illuminati puppet keep pursuing that elusive record deal. If you get signed to a small subsidiary label, there are certain commitments like you have to help promote their other artists and buy their music. You have to scratch their back so they'll scratch yours, and usually the small fry are sacrificed in favor of their major A-list talent.
If you don't want to kiss major ass, and all those commitments, best to just give away your music for free. Zero barriers between you and your potential listener.
Labels are a dying breed. Most creatives are going independent by using Patreon or crowdsourcing to financially support their art.
Mel David
It's hard to make money as a scoring/library artist as well. One particular library composer's most successful composition is a basic low subby drone as it seems to be highly suitable for creating dramatic tension in a scene, whereas his more complicated works get ignored.
I like Christian's videos. He's got the gift of the gab. He used to be a child actor, then composed music for porn, then onto movies/libraries. Now he is an influencer as well.
Mel David
Adam Ivy's videos are interesting as well.
Nothing is cuter
Than a laptop computer
It’s a technology race
So let’s get interfaced
Hi Poopy! When racoons trying to get on our back porch, mamma just chase them off with a broom.
That you’ve invited one in for tea means you are more civilised. Ah, but of course, you are not human.
It appears, however, that your tea companion is inanimate. [The plot thickens]
Is it a dead coon or a live coon?
Will the coon be staying till noon?
Did you know that coons croon during Raccoon Moon
Even when there is a monsoon?
The full February moon is called Raccoon Moon by some Lakota cultures
It’s interesting that it’s called Moon of Popping Trees by some vultures
Popping Trees
Singing bees
Feel my needs, fill my needs
Let's get together & make babies
XOXO
Nothing is cuter
Than a laptop computer
It’s a technology race
So let’s get interfaced
XOXO
