Loudness Metering and Visualizations in Mastering | Are You Listening? | Season 2 Episode 3

[@iZotopeOfficial]

Have a question for Jonathan? Reply below and we’ll address it in a future episode of Are You Listening!

[@PereRevert]

Thanks so much for sharing these eye-opener videos. My questions are : Putting a multiband compressor at the very first insert of the master bus really helps to avoid the full band stereo compressors to work harder next in the chain ? Stereo bus compressors should be always unlinked to avoid the whole stereo signal to be compressed when a loud transient (like toms, cymbals) hits one side of the stereo ? How should we interpret the interpeak overs of the limiter and how we do react to be properly handled, avoided at the very last mastering stage ?

[@PetrenkoYuri]

Thank you ! Yes I do . I have a question , though if I may ... Is a bad habit to LOVE the Kick drum so much and do everything else from the big drum to the rest of other instruments even vocals ? Maybe , because I was and still am a drummer . And what is my problem , if I may ask again , with my almost every mix that give me the sensation that is a distortion problem even if my LUF is -23dB for the mix and I rise the loudness to -16dB searching for that sweet spot of -11dB RMS or -9,5dB , to me is already distortion . My gear : Delta 1010LT and a pair of monitors KRK Rokit 6. Thanks in advance ! It will mean a lot to me if I get an answer from you . Sorry for my english .

[@riverdhan]

but then why some of my favorite mixes they peak around +3db? was true peak limiting really important? please explain especially for dance music.

[@ThomsenTower]

Enjoying these lesson- Two Qs: 1) peak limiting or TRUE PEAK limiting?; 2) shouldn´t we acknowledge that, unfortunately, we must master for different formats? CDs stil seem to want crude loudness but streaming services, with their loudness standards, perhaps allow us to recover some of the dynamic range that CD standard destroyed? Interested to hear your viewpoint! Thanks

[@stevemcnamara2584]

Excellent video, as always. My question involves the the alt/option+click function Tonal Balance Control and its effect on the "fine" and "broad" measurement tool. It seems that while holding the "click" this way, the white line rises in the particular quadrant being highlighted (e.g., low-mid), suggesting that Tonal Balance Control is no longer measuring the entire signal, just the power of the focused frequencies. As such, it suggests the unclicked measurement is somehow "off", since the white line then decreases. If possible, could you provide some insight into the alt/option+click function in mastering. Thank you.

[@integer22]

I think Jonathan must be one of the finest educators I've ever found in the world of pro audio. The fact iZotope are producing and distributing this content completely for free is an enormous credit to them as a company, and everyone involved in making these videos. Thank you so much.

[@valentin_boes]

True! This is amazing!

[@esmith9875]

absolutely 100

[@hansdampf7397]

"...I hope you found it interesting and learned something from it.." HELL, YEAH! :)

[@filmmaker5457]

Wow! A born teacher! I am swept away by the value of information and how well you deliver it! Kudos!

[@poissonpuerile8897]

Such calm clarity and well-organized and -presented information! Plus, Wyner's delivery leaves me with a sense of calm that harks back to Mr. Rogers. A pleasure to watch.

[@baselinesweb]

The history graph in Insight2 is a great feature - shows momentary vs short term vs integrated.

[@MeAndTheBoys_]

11:13 - 11:23 Annotation game is on point here. I bow to thee 🖖

[@88keyz]

I thank GOD I watch this video I had a general ideal about the different types of meters and how to use them before watching this video. This video made things much much more clearer I'll probably watch this a few more times until I have a complete understanding of how to use the different types of meters to improve my Mastering skillz thanks much appreciated 👍🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@greghernandez7181]

Jonathan: this is the best explanation of RMS and LUFS that I've encountered. I can't thank you enough. This is vital to me as an audiobook narrator mastering the audio to specific RMS values for certain publishers.

[@dannycaliforni4780]

In addition to all this great information I've gotten from Jonathan Wyner and iZotope over the years, I'm really enjoying his attention to personal fashion. That button up is fly 👕🔥.

[@dzajo555]

This is the best and most relevant series on youtube, keep up!

[@Hello-pl2qe]

Is that shirt part of the loudness war? Kidding. Love you're work.

[@barrydixon8266]

Jonathon, you’re an amazing communicator. The content of this video is so concise. Excellent!

[@jwrxgd]

This was one of the most helpful videos Ive ever seen on metering and just mastering / audio in general! Thank you!!!

[@atikmakesmusic2848]

This series is amazing! Sincerely appreciate iZotope for sharing this kind of content. An idea for future episodes that came to mind is to bring in various artists who use your software in different and sometimes unorthodox ways and let them showcase their perspective in future seasons or episodes. Cheers from Greece!

[@gathobeevens2644]

Thank you Jonathan , you are such a great teacher !! be blessed !!!

[@esmith9875]

Brilliantly clear and accurate video, huge respect for iZotope for sharing this for everyone. Bravo.

[@antonisantoniou1944]

And this kids is how a tutorial should be presented !!! Awesome..Fascinating...Eye (Ear) opener stuff!!

[@carboncitylights]

Amazing episode! Very helpful information. Thanks, Jonathan!

[@Exoauraband]

Great video, love the info and your demeanor. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the conflict between my ears and eyes but this video reminds me it's an art and a partnership between both senses.

[@StudioSolutions]

Congrats to Izotope for putting out videos that are top notch in terms of production values. You'd be surprised at the quality of videos from some other audio/video related companies. Izotope is sheer excellence.

[@torontoscott]

Just got RX-7 bundle and found this series. Love it great works guys.

[@bhargavdobhal5327]

Thank You Jonathan Wyner and Izotope🙌🙌 for this really helpful video🔥🔥.

[@OneManAndHisSongs]

Fabulous explanation of loudness - the best I've heard yet. Thank you!

[@pco2004]

Such a great teacher. Love this guy.

[@noiseinthebasement8139]

Clear, concise presentation. Thanks, Jonathan!

[@geraldleibnitz3321]

I wish you were my teacher. You explain things and make the listen engage.

[@Superdelphinus]

I find a lot of jazzanova tracks to be good for reference (for me), for all the reasons you mentioned. Particularly because they are often really complex songs (both musically and Forman instrumentation perspective) but they are so clear and you can hear everything going on.

[@BulgBeats]

Great help thanks 🙏🏼

[@murraywebster1228]

Clear and succinct explanations, very well done!

[@drampadreg1386]

Great video, well done and easy to take in. Thank you for the well presented information, it really is helpful. We are talking forensics here after all and some productions are a crime so I see this as a music crime prevention and harm reduction series.

[@EgeYakut]

Thank you. It was very helpful

[@thebridegroomiscomingminis2453]

lovely to hear from you Jonathan great explanation, I am interested to know how to master better my track

[@LillySchwartz]

This was super helpful and very nicely produced. Thank you so much!

[@cindyiidavis8883]

Just a quick mention of CALM Act, in the US it's -24 (and sometimes +2 or -2 from -24) and in the UK it's -23.

[@lepryz]

thank you

[@MikeHeebz]

Another great episode with Jonathan! Thanks for sharing the knowledge. =)

[@stuntdouble777]

Very good teacher.Really enjoyed that.

[@Dsil303]

Very nice info, thanks. Is there a video explaining the possible problems you might get using high pass filters to roll off low freqs you mention at the end of this video?

[@damienlewis7882]

Jonathan where was it that you mentioned something about your output ceiling when converting to mp3. It always seems to add a little gain. A wav file with an output ceiling of say 0.2 clips when converted to a mp3. Thanks

[@highpeakrecordings]

This is gold dust. Thank you!

[@88keyz]

The next time I see a deal on rx in plugin bouquet I may buy it so I can use it to read the information in the same way the gentleman in this vide used rx to read the information from a track 👍🏾🙏🏾👍🏾

[@AndyNicholson]

I've got RX7 Standard, and I've got Wavelab Pro 10. Personally, if all you want is a spectral view of your track and you're doing mastering I'd go with Wavelab Pro every single day. You will get far more mileage out of a package designed for mastering rather than one designed for audio repair. RX7 is great, but it's not a mastering tool.

[@PetrenkoYuri]

Awesome Knowledge and such a good explanations ! Thank you ! That tip with the low end work to ease the headroom for the master track is something else . I love it ! I didn't know that till now . Thanks again ! I have a question , though if I may ... Is a bad habit to LOVE the Kick drum so much and do everything else from the big drum to the rest of other instruments even vocals ? Maybe , because I was and still am a drummer . And what is my problem , if I may ask again , with my almost every mix that give me the sensation that is a distortion problem even if my LUF is -23dB for the mix and I rise the loudness to -16dB searching for that sweet spot of -11dB RMS or -9,5dB , to me is already distortion . My gear : Delta 1010LT and a pair of monitors KRK Rokit 6. Thanks in advance ! It will mean a lot to me if I get an answer from you . Sorry for my english .

[@mcdebugger]

Pretty good explanaition. Thanks!

[@VicTheMonster]

You're an EXCELLENT Teacher!! 🙏!!

[@88keyz]

Crest factor I learned a new word and definition for the word very helpful lol

[@apshinn]

Jonathan for president!

[@DigitalAlkemist]

Unfortunately here in Greece the -23 LUFS law is applied only in all Tv programs except commercials that are at the best cases -12 LUFS (some are getting higher) and that's the threshold they keep.

[@leavesproduction1043]

So how eactly shall we meter the LUFS of the song while mastering for streaming platforms? Shall we meter it during whole lenght of the song, or at the loudest section of it(drop\chorus for example?).In your blog on website you advise to master around 12 LUFS, but for example in the Verse it is 15 LUFS, in the CHorus - 12 LUFS. Which of this parameter will digital streaming platform take in consideration to make the mastered song louder or quiter?Thank you!

[@88keyz]

Right I usely use a limter to get my levels up conformation as I am watching this I am giving my different aspects of what I do and have learned over the years with Mastering so I am getting some conformation and learning new information from watching this video I really enjoy this video lol

[@diegoreis6584]

Hi Jonathan, congrats for this great content that you're putting out to us. I've been watching the whole series and find it very helpful. Now, one question that I have for you is: How do go about fixing DC offset without using a HPF? I noticed you advocate strongly about avoiding HPFs, because of the phase incoherencies that it can lead to around the cutoff frequency. Can this be done with engines that are "smart" for that issue within Ozone or RX7? Thank you again!!

[@sfisothwala9077]

Thank you so much for this!!!when it comes to tonal balance,it "forces" me in lowering my low end so much,so it can remain in bar,and my snare tends to be louder then my low end in level (dB) is that a good thing, considering mastering later on?

[@Redonkeyulous]

God blesses you...Massive knowledge. Thanks for sharing!!

[@Redonkeyulous]

Lots of love to you. My technical knowledge is getting so much better and 'awesomer'. Thanks. You are the best. So simply understood so many points that took me years to 'trying to understand but never succeeded'.

[@danjohnsonstudio]

Hi, Jonathan. You kinda skipped over the HPFs cause problems/try a low shelf instead nugget. Why is this, and could you expand? Specifically, is this also an issue in mixing, or just mastering? I can't be the only one with HPFs all over their mixes.

[@syndice]

Dunno if this is terribly late or not but from what I know high pass filters cause phase shifts and slight changes to the sound of something. It's usually not noticeable for me though but it is definitely an important change. Some people say not to high pass filter a master at 20Hz and to use a low shelf instead as it will cause less of a phase shift. I don't know what genre you're working in, but in EDM I'd say to still use the high pass filter because everyone I see does it meaning it will be like a "typical" professional sound, and if you don't high pass filter you won't have that "hiss" or "fuzz" that phase shifting will cause in professional tracks that use it. Phase shifts are especially important for recorded audio though. Say if you take 2 recordings of a guitar solo left and right to create a wider sound, if you high pass them differently the guitars won't sound the same, they will need to be processed together. So in my opinion is an issue in both mixing and mastering but only in specific situations.

[@MixingGBP]

Since a lot of us stream our music to our fans, doesn't it make sense to pay attention to integrated LUFS? You said in the video it's the last thing we should pay attention to, but the streaming services judge our music on integrated LUFS. They will turn down my song if it is louder than their threshold, but they won't turn it up if it's below their threshold. For streaming I have settled on -12 db integrated LUFS, and around -9 db momentary LUFS. That way at least they are always turning me down, but by only 1 or 2 db depending on the site. If I am burning a CD (some of my fans still use them), then I'll burn it at -9 integrated LUFS. The true peak values need mentioning too. Streaming is -1 TP and CD is -0. 1 TP. That's what I'm doing anyways and for my genre, R&B, it's working.

[@mbourque127]

There's a mistake, the level is -24 LKFS in North America and -23 in EU.

[@baselinesweb]

Much better choice of shirt Jonathan :-)

[@larsjan3626]

How does one account for a fade out, or silent bits within a song when setting levels/loudness? I imagine I'm not the only one who is concerned about the whole song being adjusted once it's on Spotify, for instance, to make up those quieter parts. Thanks!

[@johnnyvegas2015]

Awesome tutorial...thank you so much

[@k-chill8428]

Thank you. So clear and concise.

[@88keyz]

23 usa 24 EU integrated got it👍🏾I use a plugin called youlean and a plugin called expose to help me with my mixing and Mastering levels hope that information helps someone after watching this video I understand what to look for in many other type of plugins that gives the different types of metering information inside of the plugins wow this a very helpful I have been watching the other videos in this series they are all very helpful videos this video has taught me alot tho😊😊😊

[@andresnol]

It is actually -23 +/-0,5 in EU (EBU r128)

[@88keyz]

@@andresnol thanks I'll do more research or make sure I know the exact number before uploading

[@coachsteve.]

Great info. I'm pretty new to Insight and loudness measuring in general, is it possible to get the Integrated level without having to actually playback the entire track?

[@yavarjangjoo9264]

Thanks

[@delborrell]

Brilliant!

[@willboxuni]

21:39 Stereo Width episode?

[@cornerliston]

About broadcast: How come you get different levels from some of the channels? Some are very noticeably higher in volume than others. Isn't the sound "mastered" via the distribution company putting an automatic limiter at -14 dB LUFS? So the sound should be almost 100 % consequent throughout all channels? About digital stream: KZbin's LUFS standard certainly does not since the volume is very low on some videos and EDM loud on others.

[@CraigNybo]

You are a genius.

[@88keyz]

Thinking out loud so yeah that's why levels are important at the beginning it will help with the Crest factor down the road alright lol I understand lol

[@bboymac84]

my favorite show!!

[@svenisaksson3970]

What is the song you're using. I like it!

[@zenluiz]

Great video! :)

[@kieranniemand2939]

Imagine actually being a classroom being taught by Jonathan

[@salsmusicetc67]

I can’t believe this info is free

[@lightwarp_]

THANK YOU

[@studiohouse8636]

Amazing!

[@bakedcreations8985]

So damn articulate! Subbed!

[@wallemon06]

What song is in the background?

[@dragondreamjln]

It seems like Computers are complicating things in the Audio world. Yes it's always been complicated but why does it have to be like finnicking around with a lock to see if it opens a door? Why can't it be more of a smooth solid process?

[@oskazervos]

You think they could have used a bit of rx de-rustle on that scratchy lav

[@MrSNEAKFREAK96]

What is the silver rack unit with the falcon/bird on it?

[@williamhively3295]

I think that’s a coffee maker 😆

[@jazmanaut]

Whats that drumtrack in the intro?

[@aryanz66]

what is that lovely music? is it Oasis?

[@oledahl.]

I just can’t remember what the song in the background is. Can anyone help me remember?

[@vernoldham]

White Reaper / Might be Right

[@majewskimusic]

Thank you, ;-)

[@InspirePulse_]

Whoz coming here from Episode 1 then 2 then 3 and willing to complete this entire series?

[@Darksagan]

Wow!

[@stainedredmoon]

How can I apply this for live!!?

[@stainedredmoon]

well the last part with insight or see RX live.

[@dafingaz]

Nice!

[@88keyz]

👍🏾👍🏾😊👍🏾👍🏾

[@NessunDorma732]

Morning glory sounds absolutely horrible. Haha

[@selenemouradasilvaselenese9854]

.

[@FrankMGarcía]

Please, life is short. Explain the key points quickly : ) 22 minutes is insane for explaining such basic concepts. Sorry

[@stupidusername38]

Really good explanation, I never understood LUFS and what it was.

[@stupidusername38]

Question for Jonathan, does he ever aim to mix tracks to - 18dbfs 0VU?

[@BabysmoothMusic]

Nice 🙏🏽