Average level???

Ged Leitch · Post by **Ged Leitch** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:25 pm

Hi guys, after mastering a track then importing it back into harbal the level reads...
average -14.55db peak 1.25db

does that mean the track is actually a digital over of 1.25db?

HarBal · Post by **HarBal** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:30 pm

No it doesn't. The peak figure of merit is the area under the peak aggregate spectrum (yellow trace). It can be bigger than 0dB because you are taking the loudest parts of the spectrum and putting them all together when in reality they are occuring at different times during the entire track and not simultaneously. That is why it can be bigger than 0dB.

Regards,

Paavo.

Ged Leitch · Post by **Ged Leitch** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:36 pm

HarBal wrote:No it doesn't. The peak figure of merit is the area under the peak aggregate spectrum (yellow trace). It can be bigger than 0dB because you are taking the loudest parts of the spectrum and putting them all together when in reality they are occuring at different times during the entire track and not simultaneously. That is why it can be bigger than 0dB.

Regards,

Paavo.

so the measurement relates more to dynamics rather than a standard digital meter?

Phi Lion · Post by **Phi Lion** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:27 am

Is the average loudness figure of merrit indicator the same
as AES - 17 std ref

Also do you guys have any idea why wavelabs rms levels are higher than this value.

Thanks guys

HarBal · Post by **HarBal** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:25 pm

I'm not aware of that standard so I couldn't tell you. It is simply the RMS figure calculated for the entire track without weighting ( in version 1.51 and before it used to be A-weighted and have a different reference) referenced against a full scale sine wave.

I'd assume wavelabs rms level read higher as it might be excluding waveform data that is lower in level than some pre-determined threshold.

Regards,

Paavo.