How to check your video is loud enough in DaVinci Resolve (loudness levels for YouTube)

How do you check your loudness levels in DaVinci Resolve? What should the audio level be for KZbin? How do you use Fairlight to increase video loudness?
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[@squakke]

It took me 2 weeks to finally find a video that gives me enough basic information to finish up my first video. The audio/volume level issue was really discouraging me. I'm still struggling slightly with background noise. There's an odd humming kind of noise. I don't know why. I filmed it in a forest! Anyway about to check out your other vids. Cheers!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

That makes me so happy to hear (no pub intended!) good luck with the video :) :)

[@AmbarChakrabarti]

Then why don't you try adobe podcast enhance speech? it does a pretty good job cleaning up and restoring audio

[@OyeChronicles]

Exactly the video I have been looking for. Thank you :)

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Yay! that's so great to hear - glad it was useful :) :)

[@SAZIZMUSIC]

2:24 Sir with due respect i would like to point out that what most mastering engineers argue is exactly opposite of what you have said here. They say that if the loudness is more than -14LUFS then you tube will decrease the volume without affecting the dynamics of the audio, on the other hand if the loudness level is -14LUFS or even less than that then youtube will try to increase the loudness level and bring it to the -14 LUFS and in the process of doing so youtube will do brickwall limiting of the highest peaks of the audio (which essentially means the dynamic range is reduced and the audio is squashed). So what is right ? I am confused sir. Can you please kindly clarify this point ? Thanks in advance sir.

[@AllenHunterGames]

KZbin doesn’t raise the audio of videos to reach -14 LUFS, it only ever lowers it when beyond that level.

[@JonE-Music]

Really useful tutorial, easy to follow and good amount of information without being overly techie. Many thanks.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Yay - thanks so much! :) :)

[@brunovincent1969]

Your volume level is so good and clear that I actually watch this video with my laptop in shopping mall during water festival in Thailand! That's how crisp and loud your sound is. Is there a way to set this up in OBS studio also?

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Awesome! Thank you! That's so cool to hear :) :) Don't know about OBS sorry.

[@MichaelFiguresItOut]

Really helpful video. So many KZbin videos don't max the sound! Every since I learned about it, I've been chasing the 0db adjustment on all my videos. This taught me some better ways to get there! Thank you!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Hi Michael - glad it was helpful - thanks :) :)

[@miss.megalodon]

8:20 the limiter is so helpful thank you!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You're welcome :) :)

[@birdystrong]

This is jam packed with goodies for a beginner trying to move to intermediate! Thanks! New sub here.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thanks and welcome aboard! Glad it was helpful :) :)

[@letsrugem]

Thanks for sharing this. I've been looking for the settings 14 0 1 as i used to PP before.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Glad I could help :) :)

[@VeeTravels]

Thank you so much for this informative video. I am studying how this methodology can be applied to my walking videos, which are over 2 hours of continuous ambient sound.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You're welcome - I guess your videos could have a very wide audio dynamic range: e.g. the softest of footsteps walking on grass to a loud train or car going by - if you try and compress/limit it too much you might lose some of the natural sound but if you leave it as is then people could be constantly having to turn their volume up and down

[@VeeTravels]

​@JasonRobertsVideo Yeah, you pretty much nailed my dilemma spot on. I figure the best middle ground is to compress/limit the audio to an extent so that only the super loud sounds that only happen once in a while are clipped out. Otherwise, the rest of the video remains fine with reasonable audio levels for 99% of it.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Sounds good (pardon the pun!!!)

[@ianharper6015]

Thank you for a really well produced and helpful video.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Wow thanks so much - glad it was helpful! :) :)

[@JoshuaTreeWorkshopsVideos]

Excellent Video - Thank you so much!!!! Just what I needed. I'm finishing up a 40 minute documentary and I didn't know how to lock in the levels.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Yay! Glad it was helpful! Good luck with the doc :) :)

[@ToxicTonicity]

Thanks for the video, Jason! Definitely implementing these tips

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Yay! You're welcome - thanks :) :)

[@tobylowe4482]

Well presented and well described. Thank you.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thankyou so much - appreciate that :) :)

[@wolverinejr1897]

damn I see why this video was recommended above the others. Fantasticles!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thanks so much!! Glad it was useful :) :)

[@fujimanxt-3420]

Fantastic video! your straightforward and clear and concise presentation have helped me immensely with understanding how the LUFS and True Peak are controlled. I was struggling with meeting the ACX standards for book voiceovers. You saved me so much tweaking that I am very excited about moving forward with DaVinci Fairlight as my DAW of choice. Thank you!!!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Wow! - this makes me so happy to hear!! Glad to help :) :)

[@threeacresofmarche]

Helpful and well explained for a beginner like me. Thank you!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You're very welcome that's great - glad to help :) :)

[@CobaltDaleGaming]

I'm a Newb when it comes to this kind of stuff. You gave me a little insight and it helped me some. I would like a little more detail or explanation on what each thing in the Limiter is but it made a difference in my Nerd Stats in KZbin. Thanks

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Yay that's great to hear - maybe I need to do a dedicated limiter video :) :)

[@CobaltDaleGaming]

@@JasonRobertsVideo maybe you can explain what is better. Is -18 better or -16 or on the soft knob -.03 or 1.2 I get that you turn the knob one way or the other to change the output but what are they and why. If that makes sense. To me its really confusing.

[@Heisencoo]

Very well constructed video. I noticed there is a normalize audio levels to KZbin mode option available which seems to adjust the audio perfectly. Is this a viable option or is there something I'm missing? I'm a begginer to DaVinci. Thanks for the video!

[@LetsGetIntoItMedia]

Amazing video! Thank you so much for the simple and effective tips. I just uploaded a video that ended up sounding awful on KZbin, and now I know both why and how to fix it!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Yay (not about your upload!!) glad to help :) :)

[@MattheasJ]

Rock on, Jason Roberts. Much obliged.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thanks :) :)

[@BijuViswanathfilmmaker]

thank you. very helpful. subscribed

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thanks for the sub! Glad it helped :) :)

[@Razoray]

What is that static on your audio in this video? Why or how did that happen?

[@Vision-IT_1]

THX, very helpful! Short question: If I measure with the meters it shows True Peak: -3,7 dBFs and Integrated: -19,2 LUFS If I measure the bounced track with the analyse tool it shows True Peak: -3,7 dBFs and Integrated: -17,6 LUFS TP is the same but Integrated vary around 1,6 LUFS Do you know where the difference comes from?

[@CrashOrFly]

Great value! I learned a lot. Thank you so much.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You're very welcome - thanks :) :)

[@mcyellowfrancis2471]

Nice video. Please, if u want to apply the limiter to two (2) or more video, How do u do it?

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thanks - you can apply the limiter twice, once on each channel, or you could use a bus kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpyZkKyDrLGIrcU

[@TheArtist441]

Very informative thanks! I’ve been wondering how this works

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thankyou - glad it was helpful :) :)

[@Drie237]

Thank you so much sir, very helpful.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You are most welcome. Glad to help :) :)

[@EatBuildRideRepair]

Thank you!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You're welcome! Thanks :) :)

[@SpeldosaMusik]

Great video! But I don't quite understand exactly what I need to aim for. Is it the integrated LUFS that cannot, at any point in time, go above -14 LUFS? That is, if I have a video that's just silence for 5 minutes and then super loud white noise for 10 seconds, I guess the overall LUFS still would be below -14. But I also guess KZbin would still apply some kind of compression, at least to the white noise part (or maybe the whole video?). If so, what is the point of checking the overall LUFS levels over the whole video rather than just tracking the LUFS history throughout as you showed (unless you have zero dynamic range)? Or is integrated LUFS just the LUFS over the time you've played something, and do you have to watch short and short max instead? Sorry for my confusion 🙃 Again, great video!

[@dallasamckinney]

Very useful video thanks.👍

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thanks Dallas! :) :)

[@flightographist]

Thx Jason, this helped a lot.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You're welcome - glad it helped :) :)

[@jzplayr]

Thanks for the great detail....but "bounce mix to track" is greyed out.

[@JohnJTraston]

This is very useful. Thank you.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Glad to hear that! Thanks :) :)

[@somyagarg]

Hi thanks for the information, I found it really helpful. Just a few quick questions. I am already using the limiter in the dynamics panel itself (not effects) - is there any problem with that, or should I just use the one in effects? And how much gain reduction from the limiter is too much? After analysing I've currently got TP of -1.1 dBFS and Integrated of -14.6 LUFS, is that fine?

[@Stef_Art]

Dear Jason. Greeting from Greece. Thats a very informative video. Well explained to the point. I just want to ask, if thats no trouble for you, If my LUFS are around -15 to -15,5, is that ok for YT? After analysing I get a 14,7 and its yellow colour. Is that ok? (I dont want to use the limiter much). Also In studio version there is a "Normalize audio" button in export. Does that do the same thing, or its better to use fairlight? Thanks a keep up the good work.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Hi to Greece! Glad you liked the video - I try to keep my LUFS for the entire video to between -14 and -14.9 - I don't worry too much if it's in that range. I *think* the normalize audio button will just bring the peaks up to a set level and not necessarily bring the loudness up by adding compression/limiting - I don't use it though so it may be doing something more clever. I prefer to use Fairlight so I have more control.

[@oldmanrick68]

Thank you for the great information 👍

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

My pleasure! Glad to help :) :)

[@SAZIZMUSIC]

0:21 sir i have a question. what do you mean by "Crush the volume down" here ? Do you mean youtube will decrease the overall volume of the video or do you mean youtube will apply compression or even brickwall limiting to achieve it's volume standard ? Thanks in advance sir _/\_

[@itscaptainterry]

Been doing a deep dive on setting up my audio for livestreaming/video calls/recording and, while I have more or less figured out noise reduction and EQ with VSTs, reckoning with the fact that the output from my microphone is quiet even when I have gain turned all the way up has been a bit of a struggle. After doing things in the order you showed them I managed to get it to 14 LUFS without clipping and distortion, so thank you for that, but I do have 3 questions: I know that this can be a matter of preference, but do you recommend doing compression after EQ? And then limiter as the last step to make sure the True Peak is where you want it (-1 for KZbin I suppose)? And, secondly, in the video you mention it in passing, but you upped the fader to +10, what exactly does that do? Does it essentially increase the gain on the track by 10db? Lastly, I've seen most people apply EQ/Comp etc. on the audio track in Fairlight, while the limiter is applied to the BUS. Is there a particular reason for this? I'm not sure if you are going to get a chance to reply to this, but either way know that you earned a subscriber!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Hi, normally personally prefer EQ then compression. Fader increase volume for the track, e.g. 10db, can add a limiter anywhere - on the bus it is the "last line of defense" against total volume for the sequence.

[@Daltonnwith2ns]

Great video! I do have a question though (I'm fairly new to this). My video comes out with a low loudness like your example in this video. However, when I go to compress, limit, or increase decibel levels on faders, it will of course raise the loudness, but it makes the individual audio faders peak into the red. It isn't making the true peak too high but the individual audio faders I have go into the red a lot, which my basic understanding was that you wanted those to stay in the yellow (at least for vocals/dialogue). Context: I have audio of me, my two friends, and a game we are playing as the 3 audio tracks. Thank you!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You might need to also use a compressor which I show in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKSsiZKnbNyVns0 Also you may like to watch this free one hour tutorial to learn more of the context of audio: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnvPqYWsnph_nas

[@andergraph1]

P3erfect. thank you!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You're welcome :) :)

[@isoladellerosetv]

great video! But on a gameplay if the audio of your game is too loud do you reccomed to turn a volume down or to add the limiter to the game track and turn the input down?

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thanks, maybe try lowering the volume to acceptable levels first and then apply limiter after.

[@MaurysMusic]

Thank you!!!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You're welcome! :) :)

[@henrikolsen5]

Any tests or evidence that KZbin's processing, to normalize uploads exceeded standard of -14 LUFS, actually sounds terrible? I do prefer to have full control, and ensure it myself on export, but I'm just interested in actual test results if available.

[@stephantual]

Personal experience - it will simply lower the levels (check starts for nerds) if you hit anything positive there. It won't sound 'terrible' - unless you were distorded in the first place. Best to avoid it though, as there's nothing to gain from it (and YT could easily change their policity and retroactively make it sound worse). So stick to -14lufs , -1 db tp. resolve makes this esy now with the YT settings, but a manual mix is best, as always, esp on multitrack.

[@acsomiT]

Very good! Thank you!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thank you too :) :)

[@mainawahito]

4:50 bounce mix to track

[@missingsig]

professional content. thanks

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Wow - thanks :) :)

[@liquidice2783]

Hi for some reason the Bus 1 track is not showing in my timeline on the fairlight page ihave tried everything, it may be a bug because when i click the eye ball next to each track the track disappears in the Mixer, the Timeline and the meters but when i click the eye ball next to the Bus it only disappears in the mixer and meters , no change in the timeline

[@ytenthusiast632]

Thanks for explanation :)

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You're welcome! Thanks :) :)

[@6daysoflight]

You made my day!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thanks - glad to help! :) :)

[@Donny_A]

I set the limiter on the bus track to -1 and it doesnt limit the true peak for me. Im still in the plus range

[@Donny_A]

I upped the limiter to around -6 and it lowered the true peak to around -1.2db. Not sure why I had to do that.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Make sure that you don't have anything after the limiter increasing the volume like the bus 1 volume fader turned up.

[@6daysoflight]

@@JasonRobertsVideo I had the same problem. I had to set the limiter to -7 to get a true peak of -2, because I set Bus 1 Volume slider to +5. So fairlight first applies limiter and then the volume slider!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Glad you got it sorted :) :)

[@joshcullum88]

Hi Jason, how do you stop mic bleed in Davinci? Ie two people speaking in two mics

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You could try the voice isolator and see if that helps :) :)

[@torrvic1156]

Great video Jason! My videos were too quiet and I’ve only increased Gain on my Bus1 and applied Compressor to it to make it louder but I guess that it was a mistake and it’s better to use Limiter. Is it Ok to have compressor in both your Dialogue track and Bus1 or I should only use one Compressor?

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thanks! You can use multi compressors if you want to - all depends on what you are trying to do. I like to think of the limiter on bus 1 as the final step with compressors on the other channels as getting the individual tracks to mix better together.

[@torrvic1156]

@@JasonRobertsVideo thank you for the reply Jay!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

No worries :)

[@ivanlynch]

Thanks!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

No problem Ivan - you're welcome :) :)

[@theotherdai1556]

Good stuff!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Thanks - glad you enjoyed it :) :)

[@nmeau]

Nope - all my channels are mapped to the BUS, yet the limiter on the BUS has no effect. I still go above -1. This is driving me mad - wondering if my project is fundamentally corrupted or something.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

Something does sound strange there, did you set the limiter to -1 or -1.5 ?

[@TroyQwert]

DaVinchi settings and especially figuring out the optimal ones for all aspects of the project are way, way more complicated for a beginner than in Premier Pro. I've never had an issue with sound in Premier Pro, and never even looked for any sound related settings. All my projects outcome was kinda WYSIWYG.

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

If it works for you and your clients/audience then that's what matters :) :) I switched from Premiere to Resolve and haven't found Resolve to be more complicated - just different. I think Premiere provides a more streamlined new project experience but I love how resolve has the different workspaces for edit, color, audio, etc. And color grading is so much better once you understand the workflow than lumetri in premiere pro

[@TroyQwert]

@@JasonRobertsVideo , at the beginning I was kinda overwhelmed with the variety of pages within DaVinci. Now I already turned Media and Cut pages off. Also, I think the idea of nodes is old-fashioned already. See, even Photoshop now made it's layers automatic. We see them, we can use them, but they work on background. Also, look how complicated it is just to sharpen a clip in DaVinci. You need to adjust so many options which you have no idea about. Of course we can get used to that. Ppl can get used to anything. With time and if there's no choice. But I can't get used to DaVinci by default start a timeline count from 1 hour. I prefer to start my video from 0. No idea why am I supposed by default start my project from 1 hour. Of course I can get used to this and ignore it if needed. But I am talking about logics...

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

You're right that it can seem overwhelming and there are some things that seem odd if coming from Premiere like the timecode starting at 1 (you can change this default though).

[@ElParacletoPodcast]

I tried an experiment, I listened to another youtube video at the same loudness, and your video sounds too low compared to the other video, the other video sounds better, louder, why would that be?

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

They may have compressed/limited it more or it might have background music etc.

[@barryallen6217]

i used this method and reached -14 LUFS .. but the True Peak is at -4.3dB Is that to low ?

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

It's the loudness that measurement that is more important to how people actually hear it - if it sounds good at -14 -4.3 then it's probably fine :) :)

[@faithwaite7520]

Thanks!

[@JasonRobertsVideo]

No problem! Thanks :) :)