Loudness - Insight 2 Help

May 2024 · 11 minute read

Overview

The Loudness panel includes measurements used to ensure loudness compliance when delivering media for broadcast TV or streaming services. Loudness measurements are based on the ITU-R BS.1770 recommendation , which defines audio measurement algorithms for determining true peak signal level and subjective loudness over the course of a program.

The Loudness meter panel features dynamic view configurations based on the height of the meter, loudness measurements, common loudness standard target presets, and a Targets control panel for customizing meter targets and the loudness measurement Gate mode.

Loudness meter panel

Views

There are two possible views available in the Loudness meter panel: minimized and maximized. These views are shown dynamically based on the height of the Loudness meter panel.

Minimized view

The minimized view configuration is dynamically loaded when the height of the Loudness meter panel is less than 270 pixels. The meter bars are hidden in minimized view to provide a compact overview of loudness statistics.

Loudness meter minimized view

Maximized view

The maximized view configuration is dynamically loaded when the height of the Loudness meter panel is equal to or greater than 270 pixels. The meter bars are displayed alongside the text readouts in maximized view configuration to provide a full overview of loudness statistics.

Loudness meter panel maximized

Measurements

The following image outlines the measurements available in the Loudness meter panel:

Loudness meter measurements

Short-term

Measures loudness over the course of 3 seconds. Short-term measurements are useful for monitoring immediate trends in loudness. Short-term loudness measurements are never gated, regardless of the currently selected Gate option in the Targets control panel.

Short-term loudness displays

Integrated

Measures loudness over an indefinite period of time, including any selected Gate threshold. Integrated loudness is an infinite average that generates a single value for the entire duration of the calculation. When the Dialogue Gate is selected, a “(DIA)” label will be displayed next to the Integrated label to indicate that it is a dialogue-gated measurement.

Integrated loudness displays

Dialogue-Gated Integrated Measurements

The Integrated measurement displays will be delayed in updating for the first two seconds of the Dialogue-gated loudness measurement, even if there is dialogue present in the source material. After the initial two second delay, the Dialogue-gated Integrated measurement will only begin to update if/once dialogue content has been detected in the source material.

Dialogue Content Percentage

Displays the percentage of dialogue detected in the source material over the entire duration of a Dialogue-gated loudness calculation. This measurement represents the ratio of detected dialogue content to the total content in the source material. The presence of dialogue is determined in slices of 500 milliseconds and the percentage is updated throughout the entire duration of the calculation.

Dialogue Content Percentage Readout

Dialogue Content Percentage Availability

The Dialogue Content Percentage measurement is only visible when the Dialogue Gate option is selected in the Targets control panel.

Momentary

Measures loudness over the course of 400 milliseconds. Momentary loudness measurements are never gated, regardless of the currently selected Gate option in the Targets control panel.

Momentary meter bar

Momentary Measurement in Minimized View

When the minimized view configuration is active, all loudness meter bars are hidden from view. Increase the height of the Loudness meter panel to access maximized view or utilize the Momentary loudness trace in the History meter panel to monitor Momentary loudness activity.

Momentary Maximum

Displays the maximum Momentary loudness value measured over the duration of the loudness calculation. Momentary loudness measurements are never gated, regardless of the currently selected Gate option in the Targets control panel.

Momentary maximum readout

Loudness Range (LRA)

Measures the loudness range of the source material over the course of the entire loudness calculation. Loudness Range is measured in LU (Loudness Units), where 1 LU is equal to 1 dB. When the Dialogue Gate option is selected in the Targets control panel, a “(DIA)” label will be displayed next to the LRA measurement label.

LRA readout

Loudness Range (LRA) Meter Bar

Displays the loudness range of the source material as a white vertical bar along the left edge of the Integrated meter bar.

LRA Meter Bar

True Peak Maximum

Displays the maximum true peak level measured across all channels for the duration of the loudness calculation.

True Peak Maximum Readout

Loudness Standards and Targets

The bottom of the Loudness meter panel includes a list of Loudness Standard Target Presets and a Targets control panel with options for customizing meter target values and loudness gating options.

Loudness Presets and Target control panel

Target Saving Behavior

Any customized or preset loudness target configurations:

Loudness Standard Target Presets

This dropdown menu includes a number of common loudness standard target presets (detailed in the table below).

Loudness Standard Target Presets dropdown

The following meter targets and controls are affected when a loudness target preset is loaded: Loudness target, Peak target, LRA target range, and Gate.

Insight Loudness Standard Target Presets

Preset NameIntegratedToleranceGateTrue PeakNotes
AES AGOTTVS TD1006.1.17-10-16 LUFS± 2.0 LUOn (Program)-1 dBTP
AGCOM 219/09/CSP-24 LUFS± 0.5 LUOn (Program)-2 dBTPItaly
ARIB TR-B32 A/85-24 LKFS± 2.0 LUOn (Program)-1 dBTPJapan
ATSC A/85-24 LKFS± 2.0 LUOn (Program)-2 dBTPUSA, Canada, Puerto Rico
BS.1770-1-24 LKFS± 2.0 LUOff-2 dBTPInternational
BS.1770-2/3/4-24 LKFS± 2.0 LUOn (Program)-2 dBTPInternational
EBU R128-23 LUFS± 0.5 LUOn (Program)-1 dBTPEurope
EBU R128 DPP-23 LUFS± 0.5 LUOn (Program)-3 dBTPEurope
EBU R128 (South Africa)-23 LUFS±1.0 LUOn (Program)-2 dBTPSouth Africa
OP-59-24 LKFS±1.0 LUOn (Program)-2 dBTPAustralia/New Zealand
Portaria 354-23 LUFS± 0.5 LUOn (Program)-2 dBTPBrazil
Netflix-27 LKFS± 0.5 LUOn (Dialogue)-2 dBTPDialogue Target LRA of 7 LU or less.
Based on v1.0 of Netflix Audio Mix Specifications and Best Practices

Targets Control Panel

The Targets control panel allows for the customization of meter target values and the type of Gate used when measuring integrated loudness. Adjusting the meter targets will determine when the associated meter will change color to indicate that it has exceeded the target value.

The Targets control panel can be accessed by clicking on the button to the left of the loudness standard target preset dropdown menu. The panel will be pinned open and can be dismissed by clicking on the button again.

Loudness targets control panel full view

Custom Targets

When any parameter in the Targets control panel is modified, the target preset name will be updated to “Custom” to indicate that the values have been modified.

The following image outlines the parameters available in the Targets control panel:

Loudness target value readout

Tip: Adjusting Loudness and Peak Target Values

The following methods can be used to modify the Peak and Loudness target values in the Targets control panel:

Loudness Target

Sets the loudness target value for the Integrated, Short-term, and Momentary loudness meters.

Loudness target value readout

When the Integrated measurement has exceeded the loudness target, Integrated measurements will be displayed in red. When the Momentary, Momentary maximum or Short-term measurements have exceeded the loudness target, the associated meters and readouts will be displayed in yellow.

Loudness: All meters above and below target value

History Meter: Loudness Target

When the loudness target is adjusted, the red dotted line in the History meter will update to reflect the new loudness target value.

Peak Target

Sets the true peak target value in the Loudness and Levels meter panels.

Peak target value readout

When the maximum True Peak level (across all channels) is below the Peak target value, the readout will be displayed in white text. When the maximum True Peak level (across all channels) exceeds the Peak target value, the readout will be displayed in red text.
Loudness True Peak Range Colors

Peak Target in Levels meter panel

When the peak target is adjusted to a negative value, a red dotted line will be drawn in the Peak+RMS meter bar displays in the Levels meter panel to indicate the adjusted peak target value.

LRA Targets

Sets the upper and lower target values for the Loudness Range (LRA) text readout. LRA targets can be set to values within a range of 0 LU and 30 LU.

Loudness LRA target range

Any LRA measurement that falls between the two target values will be considered as in range and the readout will be displayed in white text. Any LRA value that falls outside of the LRA target range will be displayed in red text. Loudness LRA Range Colors

Tip: Adjusting LRA Targets

Gate

There are three different gating options for loudness calculations in the Loudness meter panel: Off, Dialogue, and Program. Gating is employed in loudness measurements in order to exclude quieter sections of a program from lowering the overall loudness measurement (Program-gated) or to measure the loudness of a program using dialogue as an anchor element (focal point) for the loudness calculation (Dialogue-gated).

Loudness meter Gating options

Off

When Off is selected, no gating method is enabled when calculating loudness. When selected, the loudness measurements are based on the BS.1770-1 recommendation, which did not employ the -10 LU relative program gate.

Dialogue

Enables a loudness gating method that detects if dialogue is present in the source material. Only segments of the program where dialogue is detected will contribute to the Integrated loudness measurement. When selected, the loudness measurement is based on the ITU-R BS.1770-1 revision . The -10 LU relative program gate threshold is not when the dialogue gate is enabled.

Dialogue-Gated Loudness: Initial Drawing Delay

Program

Enables a -10 LU relative gating threshold when calculating loudness in order to exclude lower level noise from decreasing the overall loudness measurement of a program. The BS.1770-2/3/4 revisions of the ITU-R BS.1770 recommendation requires that a -10 LU relative program gate threshold is applied when calculating integrated loudness.

Calculation Settings

Controls for resetting, pausing or holding loudness meter calculations are located in the header of the Insight plug-in window.

NameDescription
Loudness calculation settings - ResetResetManually resets all loudness calculations in the Loudness and History meters.
Loudness calculation settings - PausePauseFreezes all meters in the Loudness, History, and Spectrogram meter panels. All values in applicable meters (Loudness, History, and Spectrogram) are retained when Pause is enabled, regardless of the transport state of the DAW/NLE.
Loudness calculation settings: HoldHoldWhen enabled, the current loudness values will be retained when the transport is stopped. The calculation will continue from the last known value when the transport is started again. When disabled, the Loudness meter calculations will reset each time the transport state changes.

Options

To access Loudness meter options, click on the gear button in the upper left-hand corner of the Loudness meter panel to open the Meter Specific Options window.

Loudness meter options button

The Loudness tab of the Meter Specific Options window includes options for modifying the scale and range of measurements displayed in the Loudness meter panel.

Loudness meter options

Meter Specific Options Saving Behavior

Range

Determines the minimum/maximum loudness values displayed in the Loudness meter scales. Available Range options include: dB (linear), dB (non-linear), BS1771, EBU +9, and EBU +18.

dB (linear)

Full scale (dBFS) range for measuring loudness. The scale values are evenly spaced in this mode, ranging from -inf dBFS to 0 dBFS.

dB (non-linear)

Full scale (dBFS) range for measuring loudness. The scale values are logarithmically spaced in this mode, ranging from -inf dBFS to 0 dBFS.

BS1771

Loudness meter scale range recommended by the ITU . The scale mark values displayed differ depending on the Scale type selection (e.g. Absolute or Relative):

EBU +9

Loudness meter scale range recommended by the EBU as a default setting. The scale mark values will differ depending on the Scale type selection (e.g. Absolute or Relative scale).

EBU +18

Loudness meter scale range recommended by the EBU for material with a wide loudness range. The scale mark values will differ depending on the Scale type selection (e.g. Absolute or Relative scale).

Scale

Determines the scale and units used in the loudness meter bar displays. Available scale options include: Absolute or Relative.

Absolute

Displays loudness values in LUFS (Loudness Units, relative to Full Scale).

Absolute meter scale example image

Relative

Displays loudness values in LU (Loudness Units) that are relative to the current Loudness Target value.

Relative meter scale example image

Relative Scale Example

If the loudness target value is set to -23, a value of 0 LU in Relative scale mode is equivalent to -23 LUFS in Absolute scale mode.

Insight 2.3.0

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