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Arny Krueger[_4_] Arny Krueger[_4_] is offline
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Default -3dbfs for web/podcast audio?

"joe h" wrote in message
...

I've been doing some recordings for web/podcast work. Nothing too
serious yet. Just practicing to get the hang of it.


I've been editing the audio files so that they max peak around
-3dbfs. I know some rock bands try for -0.1dbfs. But that seems kind
of extreme. I'm doing some mild compression, but definitely not
trying to win the loudness wars.


I could easily go -1 or -2dbfs instead of -3dbfs. Just not sure what
makes the most sense for a "sensible internet peak signal level" for
spoken word stuff.


I use -1 dB FS, based on a large number of tests of digital gear of all
kinds. While some converters are very clean right up to -0.01 dB FS, a lot
of them crap out a little bit earlier.

If one looks at commercial CD recordings from the days before
hypercompression and the like, very few entire CDs limited their peaks to as
low as - 3 dB FS. At least one track peaking at -1 dB FS or above was pretty
common. Individual tracks may have peaked out in the -3 to -5 dB region,
probably for artistic reasons.

Keeping the levels up on tracks destined for portable players can make a lot
of sense because many portable digital players lack the reserve gain
required to bring up the levels of tracks that peak lower. There's a lot of
governmental concern about consumers damaging their ears this way.

Of course it doesn't take much to change out the OEM earphones with
transducers that have appreciably higher efficiency, or to tack on a
headphone booster amp.

A common European digital player tweak is to reset the player's parameters
and say that it is being used in the US where there is little or no such
legislation.