Adventures In Audio

How loud would you like me?

This video compares loudness levels of -23 LUFS (European broadcast), -24 LUFS (US broadcast), and -14 LUFS (YouTube). Levels were set using the Waves WLM Plus loudness meter.

Please leave a comment on YouTube and let me know what loudness level you would prefer for my future videos.

Note that the entire video comes out at -16.4 LUFS, which is a little less than YouTube's preference but this is necessary to preserve the levels of the examples in the demonstration.

Music credit: Antitesis by Kant Freud Kafka (which seems to be the correct spelling)

Automated transcript

I have a question for you and hopefully you'll give me your answer in the comments the question is how loud do you like me right now i'm speaking to you at a level of -23 l-u-f-s that's loudness units compared to full scale or luff's as i like to call it so that's quite quiet i can go quieter this is -24 loves -23 is the standard for broadcast in europe -24 is the standard for broadcast in the usa you probably won't hear much difference from -23 -24 lofts like you hear me now may seem pretty quiet it is compared to youtube's preferred level you might want to turn down your volume now this is youtube's preferred loudness level -14 lofts that's a full 10 decibels louder than the broadcast standard in the usa and how do i know that -14 lofts is youtube's preferred level well if you right-click on any video you'll see an option to pop up a panel called stats for nerds don't worry i won't call you a nerd the statistic we need is found next to volume normalized don't bother about the percentages as they depend on the volume slider in the youtube player it's the content loudness figure in decibels that's interesting in this example i'll just play you a few seconds

you'll see a content loudness figure of 3.0 db what this means is that youtube considers the loudness of the audio track in this video to be three decibels too loud and they've turned it down by three decibels so the mastering engineers clever processing to make the track so loud has wasted three decibels of potential dynamic range and the limiting needed to get the loudness up has made the track sound harsher than it need be and this music doesn't sound as though it was meant to be harsh so back to the question and back to -23 looks now as you know i make videos that demonstrate audio techniques so suppose i make a video about compression and when i finished editing it i use a limiter to push the volume up to minus 14 looks so that youtube likes it what i've just done is ruined my demonstration by adding limiting on top of the compression that i wanted to demonstrate that's useless and a waste of anyone's time watching the video so if i want to make a video on compression i either have to accept some additional limiting or set the level low enough so there is no limiting but if i set the level low enough to avoid limiting then my video will be quiet compared to other youtube videos it's a well-known fact that people who are not audio specialists often equate louder with better and quieter with worse even with years of experience as an audio professional it's important to remind yourself that louder is not better it's just louder and it just seems to sound better so my question is what level would you prefer for my videos -14 loves so they're compatible with other youtube videos even though it might affect the audio quality or -23 lofts which is mostly quiet enough to avoid limiting or as loud as possible without limiting which nearly always will be lower than -14 lofts and probably quite a lot lower so over to you the comments section is just down there i'm david meller course director of audio masterclass thank you for listening.

Comments on this video

You can comment on this video at YouTube

@stevengagnon4777:  Oh this explains why I get blasted out of bed listening to Brian Eno on YouTube when a commercial pops up.

@andreaboi8566:  -14 is just too loud to me. While listening your videos I had to lower the volume a bit even on your newest, the voice is clear but too loud to me. -23/-24 would be perfect. In this video -16.4 LUFS is pretty good. Ideally, the best volume is when I don’t need to move my knob of my headphone amplifier from 10.30 -11.00 and I can listen various contents from movies to my music without change much the volume while always I listening comfortably.

I often and my friend we complain about the bad quality of some movies, because (I guess of wrong downmix from multi-channel track that usually cause this mismatch), so even if the movie voice actually is mostly at -23LUFS, the action parts reach 0dB at -7LUFS that cause us to lower the volume a lot. A balance between parts is also important.

Maybe avoiding to compress too much and peak limiting the voice will help, definitely a more natural sound will be better.

@AudioMasterclass replies to @andreaboi8566: I would go to -23 but then my videos would be quieter than just about every other YouTube video. Frankly, that would be the kiss of death for my channel. -16 or thereabouts is my compromise for now. DM

@andreaboi8566 replies to @andreaboi8566: @@AudioMasterclass Is understandable you want to find a compromise/balance for the volume, but cannot be the kiss of death ahah. A lot of videos including from Focal, Genelec, Acousticsounds, Microsoft, Apple and many others have videos at a lot lower volume and I don’t see their channels are closing because there’re louder YouTubers. The WWDC was at -23. Even channels in your same field like TRPTK studio and PS Audio or mastering interviews from Adam. Btw whatever you will choose, your videos will continue to be interesting and useful :)

@meis18mofo77:  I don't care baout how loud but limiting should be avoided for the actual listening material in the video

@fivechordmusic:  -23 LUFS please

@mackenzielibby8475:  -23/24

@davewestner:  my answer: it depends on what you're doing.
If you're just chatting, louder is better.
If you're showing audio examples of something that the YT leveling would do damage to, lower is better. As you said, compression examples would be ruined by their leveling.
Although it certainly would be helpful to know as the video starts that "this one might be a bit lower than most"
That said, i actually don't care. I have a volume knob and know how to use it.

@G_handle:  This is a great question, and there is no straightforward answer without knowing other factors:

A) This being an remote battlefront of the Loudness Wars, I think most people are feeling more at ease now that streaming companies Are settling on “standards”. (Though unlike broadcast we’ve allowed each corporation to decide their own “standards”, which makes them less... standard.) -23/24 Broadcast, -16/14 Streaming, at least we’re not talking -8 LUFS anymore!

B) There’s a bit of an online battle going on right now between two prominent YouTubers / Mastering Engineers. I think you should do a much more comprehensive version of this video on the subject laying out all the factors at play. What do each of the prominent companies want in 2021? What level should a Mastering Engineer be aiming at for Each of the different deliverables? And yes, where should Audio YouTubers, not just this channel set the level of their videos?

C) My first thought is that, afaik YouTube lowers videos that go above -14 LUFS, but it doesn’t raise low videos, or normalize upward, right? Therefore if you aim low, the videos in a playlist or cue and in between any Commercials will actually Be low in comparison. Then people will raise their speaker/headphone volume to actually hear your sage wisdom, and be Blasted by whatever comes up next. That’s no good.

D) As much of your videos are lots of Dialogue, which I live to listen too, should you not compress the dynamic range of your speaking voice and normalize it to exactly -14 LUFS. Then for any Audio Examples, Peak Normalize them to say -1dBFS and make sure they hit No Limiting, even if the RMS / LUFS level will likely fall below that -14 Dialogue Level? If nothing touches a Peak limiter, and nothing goes over -14 LUFS, then YouTube will not Normalize anything if I understand correctly. So these videos “match” all the others, and the only thing that may be low, is what we should be adjusting our volumes to scrutinize anyhow.

E) Thank you for doing this video. I think involving the community in this discussion is incredibly useful. Much of my career has been not only about what I already knew, but what solutions I could find to whatever problem was presenting itself at any given time. Involving us students in the thought process, and the pros and cons of different approaches, is as valuable as all the rest of it. IMHO.

@louielopez2919:  -23 all the way

@deimne970:  If you're uploading videos to youtube and youtube wants -14, then use -14, otherwise youtube would adjust the level for you!!

@AudioMasterclass replies to @deimne970: That's a reasonable point. I would add that YouTube only lowers the level of videos that are above -14 LUFS; it doesn't raise the level of those that are lower. DM

@curtismech:  -23 definitely sounds better than -14, imo... the only (minor) problem, however, is if I add a quieter video to a queue...have to have the volume louder, and then when the next video starts - boom! A small, not insurmountable problem, really. In order to learn something like compression, properly, I'd rather have to adjust the volume and you be able to do it right.

@AudioMasterclass replies to @curtismech: Thank you for your comment. I appreciate your perspective and it will help me make a decision on the levels of my videos for the future. DM

@studiomedia-arttomaszzbore1251:  Taking into account the very good quality of Your recordings ( and your voice of course) -23 or -24 LUFS is enough for me even with average smartphones or tablets, on the other hand every so often I find that these levels are too low when the spoken recordings are of poorer quality and heard in noisy environment - I can't hear them loud enough on these devices, so some extra decibels at hand could do.

@AudioMasterclass replies to @studiomedia-arttomaszzbore1251: That's an interesting point that I hadn't considered - that a lowish level might be OK if the listening environment is good but not if there is background noise, the problem being that some phones or tablets might not have enough gain available, probably to protect users' hearing when listening to audio at -16 or -14 LUFS. That could be a topic to explore in the future. DM

@andreaboi8566 replies to @studiomedia-arttomaszzbore1251: I remember well when my old cd player had stopped to works and I bought another new 1-2 years later, then the output volume was a lot lower because of the laws on Europe, but that is just the cause and effect of this stupid loudness. That's why even Android smartphones and other devices have actually less output power than what they have in reality, they are limited by software. Could be a problem for some recordings recorded at low volume.

@theguy4361:  -23 is fine, good loodness

@beckyp9633:  THIS explains why I have a hard time hearing videos on my cheap tablet! Thank you! 💖

@colinowenuk:  -14 please. The other levels are a pain to listen to.

@leobottaro:  I like -23 better
On my system, -14 had noticeable distortion.

@AudioMasterclass replies to @leobottaro: I'm using a true peak of -1 dBTP so it's unlikely your system is the problem. More likely it's the harshness in the limiting that you hear, as do I. DM

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Thursday March 10, 2022

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David Mellor

David Mellor

David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.

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