I went through some of my CD's and analyzed the levels so that you could see how they have changed since CD's were commercially produced.
Although a few were made in 1983, production was not on a large scale until 1984.
If you have followed us here, you know that we want to maintain a True Peak level of -1 dB in order to prevent any problems at all with any playback hardware and software, and to assure that any conversion to a lossy format will not result in any clipped samples.
The LKFS number is an average Loudness number that helps us to quickly see where the level of a track is. We can look at great recorded music through the years and see what is good in terms of dynamic range and loudness levels. The LKFS number would to a certain extent be controlled by the dynamic range of the song. Orchestral music with very wide dynamic range would be closer to -20 dB, and compressed pop music could be about -12 to -16dB. I like to use -16 dB as a standard because virtually all music will fit into that range and it is the highest level that iTunes and most broadcasters will allow before applying their own compressors. So a level of -16 will assure that your track will be heard exactly as intended.
You can see from the chart that we passed the safe level in the mid '90's. From 1997 until now, the levels have remained squashed and clipped. So for 20 years, we have talked about the evils of the "Loudness Wars", but have done nothing to change our behavior. The biggest names in the mastering world are the worst offenders.
Thousands of examples could be listed, but I think the chart makes it clear enough. This should help to dispel the notion that only experts can make good music. Experts can ruin good music. And high resolution recordings at 192 khz or 384khz and at 64 bit is not the issue. Good music is the result of following a few rules and learning from the past.
Although a few were made in 1983, production was not on a large scale until 1984.
If you have followed us here, you know that we want to maintain a True Peak level of -1 dB in order to prevent any problems at all with any playback hardware and software, and to assure that any conversion to a lossy format will not result in any clipped samples.
The LKFS number is an average Loudness number that helps us to quickly see where the level of a track is. We can look at great recorded music through the years and see what is good in terms of dynamic range and loudness levels. The LKFS number would to a certain extent be controlled by the dynamic range of the song. Orchestral music with very wide dynamic range would be closer to -20 dB, and compressed pop music could be about -12 to -16dB. I like to use -16 dB as a standard because virtually all music will fit into that range and it is the highest level that iTunes and most broadcasters will allow before applying their own compressors. So a level of -16 will assure that your track will be heard exactly as intended.
You can see from the chart that we passed the safe level in the mid '90's. From 1997 until now, the levels have remained squashed and clipped. So for 20 years, we have talked about the evils of the "Loudness Wars", but have done nothing to change our behavior. The biggest names in the mastering world are the worst offenders.
Thousands of examples could be listed, but I think the chart makes it clear enough. This should help to dispel the notion that only experts can make good music. Experts can ruin good music. And high resolution recordings at 192 khz or 384khz and at 64 bit is not the issue. Good music is the result of following a few rules and learning from the past.
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