to explain

lets say i am checking the meters and i see the meter saying 20db in my daw

but the volume of my computer on my sound control how loud does it need to be to reflect that? (it goes from 1 to 100)....to be sure i am listening to a sound thats 20db in volume?

 

Last edited by a moderator: May 1, 2024

With a hardware sound level meter.

 

there's seriously no way to be sure how much DB u're listening without external sound level meter?

 

No, because you do not know how your volume knob influences the level. It may be possible to calculate it somehow with a fixed volume you can not change (I don't know), but the volume influencing potentiometers make it impossible.

 

your cell phone might have an app that does it. not sure if its precise though

 

Basically no. I guess with some professional room/gear/hardware/speakers/monitors.. ie. professional everything and incredibly calibrated... but that's almost an utopia.

Now that's a good idea. More precise than our ears for sure.

 

It absolutely works. Your generally accepted target monitoring level for mixing is 85dB. Plus or minus a few dB depending on who you ask. You can adjust your monitors and your DAW project (and template) from there.

 

I think you're getting both concepts confused? Your DAW measures in dbfs (decibels relative to full scale), which is just a way to measure how close you're to the ceiling before clipping. Meanwhile, I think you're trying to measure SPL, which is a different thing. Am I going crazy?

Maybe check this out:

 

use to use a canary in a cage but after remixing some prolonged pink floyd it died, now I just guess...

 

You do know what a decibel is, and what it measures right??

 

I have no idea what it is you're trying to achieve. Why do you think you need to be able to listen to a -20dBfs digital waveform at exactly 20dB SPL?

 

Tsing Tao, said, (in the art of war) never mix with your eyes, only your ears...disregard the meter, it is not your friend he will lead you into terrible times and you will end up making lofi polka shoegaze.

 

Decibel unit itself is a simplification, it allows complicated things to be explained in a simple manner. Decibel for DAW and Decibel in the outside world for SPL got close to nothing to do with each other. One being measuring the digital interpretation of sound energy in electrical voltage form relative to the ceiling and another being total of pressure created by sound wave. I never dig deeper into this shit, but as for today, to me, it's impossible.

 

Tsing Tao is a chinese beer, maybe you were speaking of Sun Tzu.

You are asking of Sond Pressure Level that is (guess what) a pressure referred to 20 uPa (the human hearing threshold), in that case of course you need a sound level meter as already suggested before.
BTW +20dB in this case are equivalent to the leaves rustle.

But within Daws dBs in short are usually referred to the maximum safe non-clipping value (0dBFS) so you should keep negative values.

 

This is a passive troll-esque like question to generate pages of garbage, and so far it is working.

There is a point in knowing what the monitors output, so you are always listening at the same monitoring level. 85dB on a meter or smartphone meter app.

 

Last edited: May 2, 2024

Frequency perception changes at different sound levels, also you might want to know how loud your monitors are to protect you hearing, or maybe to know how loud you can go before the neighbor calls the cops or something.

 

https://www.digido.com/portfolio-item/level-practices-part-1/
https://www.digido.com/portfolio-item/level-practices-part-2/

 

i believe he just dont understand it but the question seems completely legit.

in many professional situations you want to listen to audio with always the same level of roughly 70 or 85 phon/sone/decibel, and to do so the following simple procedure can be used:

1. play a 1kHz tone from your DAW with -3db to peak or any other setting you like

2. turn the amp knob until you can measure 70 or 85 db in the room. (if it is damped badly, measure from your listening position - or at varying positions and average your measures)

3. remember that amp settings for tomorrow, for example 3/10

4. from now on, always go to around -3db in your DAW and listen at 3/10

exactly. that´s why you work at 70 or 85db and not at 40 or 120.

(though it should be okay to use >85 when mastering techno or metal, since this stuff is usually also consumed louder compared to cinema ads or pop music.)

it is also a good compromise between "i really cant hear anything" and damaging your ears.

 

Last edited: May 2, 2024

I have calibrated my monitors with an EBU128 test signal (500 to 2000 Hz) to 73 dB (C) SPL each for -14 LUFS. So when I play a fully correlated signal on both, i get about 79 dB SPL at my listening position.

So when I work and mix to -14 LUFS, I get 76 to 79 dB SPL at my listening position, and I'm very comfortable with it. If I set my master gain to +6 dB, I have 82 to 85 dB SPL, and that's quite loud. So I always know at what SPL I listen if I watch a LUFS meter and set my master gain to the desired level.

I also corrected room modes and applied a house curve for personal taste, but calibrating with the band limited EBU noise isn't affected by this.