Loudness Penalty Plugin Demo

[@tjay7197]

This was not only a demo, but a very educational video aswell for producers, i might need this plugin if i wanna improve in beat making

[@Eppie55]

Why do you reduce the gain of the WAV file going into the Limiter instead of just lowering the Limiter?

[@ecohouserecords1446]

I use Traxsource and Beatport the most for selling my music (They are the biggest retailers of Electronic Dance Music) how do I add them to the plugin and how do i find out what sound rates they require ?

[@developmentalpsychology4215]

Will this work in Adobe Premiere Pro for video playback before uploading? (rather than just an audio file).

[@MeterPlugs]

Yes, it should work in Adobe Premiere. More here: blog.accusonus.com/audio-effect-plug-ins-vst-audio-units-premiere-pro-final-cut-1519/

[@OfficialStevenCravis]

So how do you determine/get the best average for all services?

[@MeterPlugs]

Great question, Steven. We don't recommend using the streaming normalization levels as mastering targets. For example, there's no need to make sure all of your songs are as close to LP 0 as possible. Instead, we recommend this approach: 1. Master your song to sound how you want it. 2. Run it through Loudness Penalty and check your scores. 3. If you see large (negative) LP scores, consider whether less dynamics processing (e.g., compression and limiting) would be appropriate. If so, experiment with a more dynamic master. On the other hand, if you're completely happy with your master, there's no need to change anything! Also keep in mind that not every track should have the same loudness. You wouldn't expect an acoustic ballad to play back at the same level as a full-tilt rock track, for example. And some of the services (e.g., TIDAL) will preserve the relative loudness differences between songs on the same album. With all that said, if you want a guideline for how to take maximum advantage of available dynamic range, while remaining "just as loud as everything else," an LP score of 0 on KZbin would likely achieve that. Hope that helps!

[@romantrix]

Does Spotify measure and adjusts the volume of the songs of an album independently? I hope it's not because that would modify the relative volumes of the songs of the same album and I'll never want that. In case it's not, will spotify turn up or down considering the measure of the loudest song on the album or will make the measure of the full album as a unit? Thanks

[@allywilkeforsenate]

I have used the free website and I like it so far.I will be buying this for my DAW when I get the results back after my song is published.I will need help installingbthe plugin because I suck at adding plugins to my DAW and have been unsucessfull adding them in ast attemps.Thx for the great plugin!

[@Sedaymusic]

This plugin needs a drag a file option to obtain the whole metering in a few seconds like the website feature!

[@MeterPlugs]

Thanks Seday, it's something that we're considering! In the meantime, you can simply use the website for that functionality.

[@roundhat100]

Hello i purchased your plugin yesterday....I watched your video on youtube and would like to know how did you turn down the audio and still have it hitting at -1db???...all the streaming platforms are turning down my track by 4db's...but when i try to turn my track down it hits at -4db and is squashed...how can i lower the track keeping the same dynamics but still hitting at -1db? 3:48

[@MeterPlugs]

Hi Johno, in this case the limiter was responsible for reducing peak levels to -1 dB. When the track was turned down, it still had enough dynamics to peak at -1 dB. If you're turning your track's gain down by 4 dB, you want to do it *before* the limiter; otherwise, your peaks will be brought down by the same amount.

[@roundhat100]

@@MeterPlugs ok i get it now...thanks for the input

[@newwest199x]

@@MeterPlugs yes but this will change the dynamics of the recording, what if we want that master bus limiting that glues it together without getting massively punished by the DSPs

[@MeterPlugs]

@@newwest199x there isn't much to be gained by simply turning down your music by applying a gain adjustment since the streaming services will do this for you, unless you're peaking to close to 0 and getting distortion in the DAC or encoding process - then it could be beneficial to apply a constant gain offset to bring down your peak levels. I'd also recommend using a True Peak meter, since sample peaks can be off by several dBs.

[@StephenAntKneeBk5]

Thanks for this walk though. I have the plug-in and really like it. Q. Loudness Penalty advice for Sound Cloud?

[@MeterPlugs]

Hi Stephen, at this time SoundCloud doesn't do any loudness normalization. If / when they add support for loudness normalization, we'll look into adding it to Loudness Penalty.

[@jamesbritt5597]

This looks really good. Could you clarify something though? Perhaps I've missed this in your other videos, but when you say that the services turn down or lower the volume of tracks, are they using an overall gain reduction (e.g. a volume knob) or are they applying compression/limiting to push down the volume? Thanks!

[@MeterPlugs]

Hi James, streaming services use an overall gain adjustment to adjust the volume of songs. Currently, Spotify also applies limiting when *raising* the volume of songs. The other platforms that Loudness Penalty supports either don't raise the volume of songs, or limit the amount that they raise the volume in order to prevent clipping. You can find details in the Loudness Penalty manual: www.meterplugs.com/files/loudness-penalty-guide.pdf

[@jamesbritt5597]

Thank you!

[@mariodario9033]

So...it seems to me that website is more helpful than plugin. If I have 30 minute peace of relax music, then I need 30 minute wait until plugin will show up proper parameters.... I can upload to web site and get result within seconds...for free I think...? Is there any option, in the plugin, to act as "stand alone" and calculate whole song without playing it full lenght or trying to approximate on loudest parts so that tool become unprecise meter ?

[@MeterPlugs]

Hi Mario, it really depends on your DAW and workflow. In many DAWs, the plugin can be run in an "offline" mode, which is much faster than realtime. For example, the plugin is compatible with Pro Tools AudioSuite, and in other DAWs you can bounce the project and then check the results in the plugin UI, all without ever leaving your DAW. Additionally, the plugin tells you how much you can *increase* the loudness of your music without incurring a penalty - something that the website doesn't do.

[@mariodario9033]

@@MeterPlugs I purchased you plugin few months ago and use it on any mix. I work with Samplitude and as you said I need to make bounce or just obserwe and make changes during mix process. Anyway, great tool and thank you for your video episodes that gives us so much information and tips for better mix and master tracks. All best !

[@lachinhan]

I don't see you review the AutoGain function.

[@MeterPlugs]

Indeed, we forgot that one :\ When you have Preview mode enabled, you still need to click on the Loudness Penalty score that you're previewing every so often, to update the preview gain. Or, you can enable Auto Gain, and then the plugin will auto-update the preview gain once per second, to match the current Loudness Penalty score. Does that make sense?

[@lachinhan]

@@MeterPlugs I just bought this Plugin for my jobs. It's so great.

[@TomCawoski]

I'm curious if the "preview" is also previewing the codec used or is it simply adjusting the volume according to the selected streaming service? It also seems possible and perhaps valuable to know what the overall result is going to be rather than a real-time moment by moment number. Perhaps a button to analyze the whole song at once and then be able to preview the result. After all isn't that what we're looking for anyway? Does iTunes and Apple Music (streaming service) do the same loudness normalization?

[@ProductionAdvice]

The Preview is loudness-only right now, not the codec. To analyse the whole song you do need to play the whole song, but you can use non-realtime processing like iZotope RX or Audiosuite in Pro Tools.

[@TomCawoski]

@@ProductionAdvice Great, I was wondering if AudioSuite would do the trick. Nice... Thanks Ian!!!

[@JoeRomersaHome]

Great tool to have! This is for music, is there one for film? Netflix, Amazon Prime, Film Festivals. Can you create custom target loudness?

[@MeterPlugs]

Hi Joe, you're correct that Loudness Penalty is geared toward music streaming services. For film, a loudness meter would be more appropriate. We have our LCAST plugin (www.meterplugs.com/lcast), but there are others available as well.

[@oliverrust4836]

Really interesting plugin I'll wait for sale... White Sea Studio brought me here ;D I have one question. Should i set the limiter output level to -0.1 or -1 ? Is there much difference ?

[@MeterPlugs]

We recommend not exceeding -1 dBTP when submitting to streaming services. Otherwise, you risk your song clipping when encoded.

[@piquesegue]

I bought the plugin and I'm quite happy with it but... each time I check a file, I don't get the same numbers compared to the online version. How comes? thanks! :)

[@MeterPlugs]

We recently released updates to both the plugin and the website that update the Spotify scores. Can you please check to see if the latest version of the plugin gives the same results as the website? If you find any discrepancies, please contact Support at [e-mail].

[@Stourbridgestudios]

Hi, I love the plugin but have one criticism about it... The plugin continues to measure a track even if there is no file in it meaning if I want to measure multiple tracks at once the shorter songs have an incorrect measure as it measures silence after the track while the others are still playing.

[@MeterPlugs]

Hi Chris, thanks for the feedback. This is something that we're looking into addressing in a future version.

[@Stourbridgestudios]

@@MeterPlugs that would be great. Probably the only thing with it i think

[@TheBizzyBScience]

can you use this in obs?

[@Nativusdes]

Does this measure the integrated or short term LUFS or does it measure the dBTP? Why should I buy this instead of another plugin just showing me the LUFS? I get the preview thing, that's nice.

[@MeterPlugs]

Not all streaming services use LUFS, and even the ones that do have other differences, such as how they handle increases in volume, etc. Loudness Penalty accurately models all these differences. An LUFS meter will certainly get you close, but if you don't want to bother staying up to date with all the latest normalization levels and nitty gritty details, Loudness Penalty offers a quick and simple alternative.

[@Nativusdes]

@@MeterPlugs A bit late, but thank you. I didn't know all of that

[@Stourbridgestudios]

What does auto gain do?

[@MeterPlugs]

Hi Chris. When you have Preview mode enabled, you still need to click on the Loudness Penalty score that you're previewing every so often, to update the preview gain. Or, you can enable Auto Gain, and then the plugin will auto-update the preview gain once per second, to match the current Loudness Penalty score. Does that make sense?

[@Stourbridgestudios]

@@MeterPlugs it does. I've purchased it today and look forward to using it rather soon 😊

[@nicebluejay]

quick question -- why should i really care if they turn me down? i know, dynamics etc etc. but, nearly all the released music nowadays is turned down by spotify etc etc and no one cares. and they are turned down A LOT. just tick on and off the "loudness normalization" box under preferences in realtime in amazon music unlimited and it is quite glaring. if this is what the pro mastering engineers are doing, why should i do anything different?

[@RealHomeRecording]

Because you're better than the so-called professionals. Because dynamic music sounds better. Because you don't have to answer to some idiots who work at record labels who are making audio engineering decisions for you.

[@nicebluejay]

@@RealHomeRecording yeah, i suppose, but i would not call the mastering engineers for the top 10 artists nowadays "so-called professionals." that would be ridiculous. they are professionals by definition.

[@RealHomeRecording]

@@nicebluejay they may be getting paid to master songs, but their techniques are that of amateurs. They have destroyed a generation of music because of the almighty dollar. Albums I grew up with and love were destroyed by their terrible remastering that is now streaming on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and many others. So, you are correct but I am going to call it like I see it.

[@nicebluejay]

@@RealHomeRecording i suppose it's a matter of opinion. i have mixed feelings about it. but to say a generation of music is ruined is hyperbolic imho.

[@RealHomeRecording]

@@nicebluejay it's definitely a matter of opinion. Agreed! That said, I recently remastered the most popular rock album of the 2000s and the official masters are squashed due to hyper compression. Mine breathe, are punchy, are more open. That's what modern rock from about 1998-2014 is missing. Like someone said in a comment, hypercompression of the 2000s = the gated reverb of the 1980s.

[@HeavyEmpty]

Should I make a separate bounce for each streaming service and adjust the compression/gain level of the whole track accordingly? Would that be the absolute best way to go about things so the song would sound as loud as possible without any interference from the streaming service? Well, I guess if you use a distributor Tidal/Spotify/iTunes/Etc are going to get the same audio file, but you could potentially upload a unique audio file with a different master for KZbin, Soundcloud, etc... would yall consider adding soundcloud to the plug-in? Thanks in advance for a reply...got my finger on the buy button... !

[@iankerr]

@HeavyEmpty - we don't recommend targeting streaming reference levels. Check out this link for details: productionadvice.co.uk/no-lufs-targets/

[@SPUTNIK_band]

Hey! I bought this plugin and found out that my mastered mix is too quiet when I’m using this penalty plugin. Then I took a song right from Apple Music and this plugin showed me that Apple will turn it down on -6 db. So now when I master a song I place the level on -6 dB in this plugin.

[@LLBMusicPublishing]

Thank you. Great plugin!

[@bandofgoonsdemopage]

I am confused, how can we listen to our songs in preview mode with autogain in real time, if these platforms don't calculate our songs LUFS in real time?? Don't they calculate the full song, and then give a LUFS score to our songs? Or do they calculate them in real time like this plugin?

[@MeterPlugs]

Hi Tommy, good question. To get a perfectly accurate preview, you'd need to first measure your entire song using Loudness Penalty, by playing it from beginning to end, and then preview it. That said, you may get a close approximation to the actual Loudness Penalty score by simply playing the loudest portion of your song, since the various streaming services tend to give more "weight" to the loudest parts.

[@ashcome]

perfecttt 🔥🔥🔥

[@tonstudiometzingen]

love your plugins.

[@delphiproductionsmusic]

the next video came in and blew my ears of

[@MeterPlugs]

Do you have a link to the next video? We can check the normalization level.

[@delphiproductionsmusic]

@@MeterPlugs think it was this one kzbin.info/www/bejne/opWUYnWblM6rsLs

[@MartinWeeksmw]

Hello Ian...great and thank you just got it will download shortly. If I may, would you put together at your leisure a video regarding the "codex" a that is usually what Spotify and other Streaming Services are using when they adjust levels...not necessarily the actual music itself. (THE MACHINES RULE!! YIKES!!)

[@MartinWeeksmw]

I have a question Ian.At 4:24 mins when you momentarily turned off the preview and it started clipping you said "Because you placed the plugin "After" the limiter. Are you saying that it needs to be placed before the Limiter? That kind of doesn't make sense to me...or am I misunderstanding what you meant?

[@MartinWeeksmw]

What does "Auto Gain" do?

[@siggidori]

@@MartinWeeksmw It needs to be after any processing that affect the audio (i.e. the limiter) since it is supposed to measure what you do with the processing / engineering.

[@siggidori]

@@MartinWeeksmw Auto Gain: With this option enabled, the plugin automatically adjusts the preview loudness as the active Loudness Penalty score changes. This means the final loudness you hear always matches the streaming service’s reference level, without you needing to click the Loudness Penalty score to update it. This is very handy, because you don’t need to click on the Loudness Penalty score to update the preview loudness, but the feature must be used with caution. If the Loudness Penalty scores haven’t yet “settled” and are changing rapidly, the preview loudness will also fluctuate rapidly, which doesn’t mimic how loudness normalization works in practice (i.e., with a constant gain offset). For this reason, you should usually disable Auto Gain ​until​ the Loudness Penalty scores for your music have stabilized. Note that the Loudness Penalty plugin doesn’t apply any limiting, and can’t predict in advance whether a positive gain change might cause clipping if the audio gets louder. For that reason, you should take care enabling Preview mode when the current service is reporting a positive Loudness Penalty score. - www.meterplugs.com/files/loudness-penalty-guide.pdf

[@MartinWeeksmw]

@@siggidori Thank you very much Sigurdor for the detailed answers. I'm loving this plugin already and will follow your instructions. Much appreciated. Have a great week Sir.

[@nobodyhome3753]

They sounds similar to GreenYellowPurpleRedBrownColor

[@TrizzyBeatz]

YouLeanLoudnessMeter Has KZbin and other streaming options this is a waste for $50 lol should be like $10 at least also Loudness Penalty is not accurate as ive tested and was like wtf bruh

[@MeterPlugs]

TrizzyBeatz, the Youlean Loudness Meter doesn't do the same thing as Loudness Penalty... Other meters use simple LUFS-based estimates for the streaming platforms. In our tests, these estimates can be off by 2 dB or more for many songs, whereas Loudness Penalty is typically within 0.5 dB or less. We also offer a completely free website version where you can measure the Loudness Penalty of your music, without uploading your songs! www.loudnesspenalty.com

[@chadtopia]

Does this also work with video editors like Premier Pro?