Several people mentioned/asked where to hold the SPL meter when measuring as I did not mention it specifically. So to be clear, you should be measuring in the mixing position, at ear level.
As always, a great video with a good and simple explanation as how to achieve the reference listening level. I think I have used the same articles as you have in the past, but I used a reference WAV file I downloaded which has 500-2K pink noise at -20 dB RMS. Next time I will use your method of the sound generator and the filter because it's not dependent of any external wave files, thanks for that! In my setup I use a limiter in the monitor mix (control room) set to a ceiling of -0.1 dB and true peak just to be safe. I also use a gain plugin to dial down the gain on the control room so Sonar Works has enough headroom and does not clip. I use this method because when I use headphones the gain is different and when I use for example Waves NX Ocean Way the gain is also different from that of Sonar Works. So when I keep a gain plugin in the separate monitor outputs in the control room I always have the right level when switching from speakers to head phones etc :) One question when using an external file (mastered music etc). How do you know how much to change the gain in your control room? Do you measure the long term LUFS of the imported track and then dial in the difference between that and the -20 dBFS you use? So if you imported track has a LUFS of --8 dBFS you dial in -12 in the control room monitor volume?
@@dromer1967 thanks for all the additional tips. The -12 dB to dial down a mastered track is just an average that by seems to work for me. If you have a hotter track than yes, it will sound a bit louder.
That is a good video, thank you! I calibrated my monitors a couple of years ago. As I own a sound meter (an old but good Brüel & Kjaer) I did some comparison with an app called SLA Pro, using an iPad. I don’t remember at the moment, but in the range 80 dB the difference were several units of dB. Maybe a little detail: it would be good to know what is the measuring distance from the monitor (maybe you mentioned it and I missed it). It sound obvious it should be the position where the listener sits at mixing, but the better if this is explicitly cleared.
@@korkenknopfus thank you! Yes some apps are quite off when compared to traditional SPL meters. But the iPhone one I mentioned was in line with my SPL meter. You should indeed measure at the listening position which I did not mention specifically. Can’t change it anymore now though but will mention it in the pinned comment.
Hi Henry, not sure how you would apply it to your headphone mixing level. I guess the main difficulty is choosing your listening SPL and measuring it. Maybe the guys who always mix on headphones do have a procedures for it though. Thanks for using the affiliate link!
thanks for that! that is a great explanaton im wonder..do you got or have any simple tutorial for SUPER VISION VU METER (cubase 13) the vu meter out there act different from any other..i've tried different settings but it allways shows diffrent values
Hi and Thanks for the video There are a couple of strange things here that I would like to ask or comment about On 4:00 You have your reference mix that you say has a LUFS of -17db. This is not correct as your Tru peak is -5 db So if this would be a mix that you would deliver to someone, the True peak should probably be between -3 to -1 (depending on what you deliver for). That means your LUFS is -15 to -12. LUFS should always be referenced to what True Peak level you mix for. As I understand it, your reference level calibration lacks the True Peak element to properly calibrate the listening level. I may be wrong and if I am please correct me.
LUFS and True Peak level are unrelated and can both be further ‘managed’ while mastering. My mix measured -17 dB LUFS no matter what the True Peak level was. Further note that this is the level before mastering. So this mix is never delivered like this to an end user. Not sure if that was clear. Even when giving this mix to my band for listening for example i would put a limiter on there to get it more up to regular mastered levels. But that’s not the level I’m listening at while mixing.
@@LanewoodStudios Yes that's sort of correct but the listening level is highly dependent on the TP on the Master Output. If your TP is -5, TP 0 will be 5 dB higher listening level if the monitor level is the same. If you intend to listen to a set listening level you need to know to things. That is the TP level and the monitor level. Then the LUFS will tell you the dynamic range and indicate how loud your mix is perceived. So there are three things that has to be considered if you want to have your speaker setup properly calibrated. Peak level (TP), Monitor level and Dynamic range LUFS.
@@thematsc ok thanks for the info. I’ll have to look further into that. It was not mentioned on the articles that I’m referencing. See the links in the description.
@@LanewoodStudios It actually does. In step 1 in the SoS it says "The first stage in establishing a calibrated monitoring level is to decide on a preferred digital 'operating level'" This is the "peak" level. Almost all written sources recommend setting that to -20 db witch i think, in a music production studio, makes absolutely no sense. I set my "digital 'operating level" to 0 dBFS. That makes every read light, light up, when Im over the top.....:-). An other advantage is that I keep the maximum dynamic range of my system (I started out in the analog world......). The master fader should be set at 0 in this process. Otherwise I follow much of what the article says except for the band limiting part but that may not be very important (?). But what is important in conjunction to all this is the audio interface output headroom and the speakers (if they are active) Input headroom.....I wonder if thats the reason so many recommend a -20dBFS level.....? And thank you for all of your nice work with all the videos, I really do enjoy them! I hope I dont come trough as negative in my comments., Im not...:-)
@@thematsc it’s fine and glad you are enjoying the videos. I understand from that article that the digital operating level is the LUFS value not the peak level. And yes I believe choosing -20 dB is to have more headroom for the peaks. If your listening level is 74 dB SPL then your speakers should be able to produce 94 dB SPL cleanly.
hi, wonder if you can help. all my settings have been lost in cuebase 13 pro. im trying to default bck to factory but im having difficulty. the issue is iver lost the ability to see my audio inputs that used to be linked to my akai, prophet and my sub 37. no matter what i do i cant get them back and i cant wipe clean a new verson because cuebase is remembering these settings. when i put cuebase 12 on its all good. do you know how to reset audio inputs to factory or beter still remove all files that are cached for remembering this mess. by the way when i re start and hold cntrl / option it doesnt re set this, neither doe a fresh instal so these settings are held somewhere i cant work ou, im on a mac. thanks if you can help.
The digital level your using seems low. Typical pop US mix in professional circles tends to be around -11 to -14 Integrated. I also think if your going to cover something like this you first have to cover phase aligning speakers, including subs and properly setting the volume level of the sub.
@@LanewoodStudios For submission to mastering the limiters on the master bus get removed. Typically we use 2 limiters that do maybe 1-3 db of compression each along with boosting the level if its to low for that. Generally the mix should go to the customer at a level comparable to commercial releases so the customer can listen to the mix in rotation with other songs for comparison. Ideally if the mix is done right there is nothing for the mastering engineer to do anyway.
@@dodgingrain3695this is not the level that I would give the track to the band for a quick listen. I would indeed put as limiter on there to get it up to more competitive ‘mastering’ levels. But that’s not the level I’m mixing at. I know some already want that ‘mastered’ sound while mixing. In that case your digital operating level is indeed higher.
Sorry I missed your comment about phase aligning and sub. Yes any other type of calibration should be done first. I showed that in my first video about setting up my new speakers but could have been more clear about that in this one. I don’t have a sub in my setup by the way so that’s not something I dove into.
