So I just finished messing around with various tracks, but before I started I loaded reaper and put the TT Meter on the incoming signal from my hardware. What I discovered was rather interesting. The kick track was DR 12-14, percussion was DR 22-24, main bass started at DR 10, but because it's repeated it goes down to DR 6. If all 3 tracks are playing together, the reading is DR 6, but when I bring up the resonance of the bass, the DR reading comes up with it.
Anyways, I decided to just play on the Electribe 2, as I have a bunch of yet unrecorded tracks on it in various genres. This was even more interesting. 1st, the 2 hard dance tracks. Both of these have double kick tracks that run different rhythms at the same time.

We Like it Hard, which is a hard house track had a reading of DR 2-6.
Stimulant, which is a more tribal hard house track was the same. Both tracks are 140.
All Dat Jazz, which is a fast hard dance track with jazzy elements is DR 8-9. 150 bpm.
Fast Tripper, which is a trippy Trance track with eastern flavour is DR 10-12. 140. bpm.
Yeah Yedi, Psy Trance Track is DR 10-11. 144 bpm.
Bach Wach, hard house track is DR 10-11, 134.8 bpm.
Beebaa Bopper, house/techno is DR 12-15. 128 bpm.
Dance With Me, house is DR 12-14. 128 bpm.
The Big Chill, Light floaty styled house is DR 11-13. 124 bpm.
Dar Da La La, house is DR 7-8. 140 bpm. This is not a hard track!
So it seems the more bass centric the track the lower the reading is, whether or not there are higher dynamic elements, so if
you then process the crap out of it, you're going to lose any of the dynamics it has.

 

I'm just going to leave this Squarepusher track here. It's from Hello Everything, an album that should be listened to by anybody interested in hearing how effective the creative use of dynamic range can be in electronic music.

Granted, Youtube isn't the best place to experience the dynamic range of a track, but I can't find it streaming anywhere else. I'm sure, however, that enterprising users accustomed to sailing the high seas of the internet could find a lossless version floating around out there to download.

 

Last edited: Aug 9, 2016

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Watch out, bass is very dangerous and something NOT for the novice new in sound production to mess around with. It is a well known fact that bass kills more humans per annum than hippopotamus and crocodiles combined. Keep your ears alert at all times, and if you even just think that the bass is getting anywhere near your headroom, just bail and get the hell outta there. Only a seasoned professional is trained in the ways of headroom protection. It might be many years before the greenfoot is permitted to come close to the bass, but the master engineer or high producer will be the best judge as to when the noob is ready to deal with it on her/his own. Just sayin'!

 

I'm still new to mixing and mastering. It is important but I grew up on listening to soul music on an a.m. radio. The character it added to the soul classics from James Brown to Marvin Gaye was an element of character and a slap in the face to whatever engineers pain steakingly mixed theses masterpieces. The subject matter and vibes of tracks just are so more importatant. A five inch speaker with gold pouring out can transend all.

 

I wasn't aware of the offline mode DR-meter. Now, I'm aware of dynamics and also aware of the loudness war, and I always cared for it. But I never used a DR-meter. Instead I trusted my ears completely. Now that @The Teknomage reminded me of the offline mode, I went through a lot of songs I created in the last 6 years. And here comes the spooky part:
So far all of the masters I was pleased with have a DR of 10 (some have 13 or 12, but most are at 10). All of the masters I thought were crap had a DR below 10 (the worst one having 7).

Since I'm not an audio engineer and don't have any expensive studio gear, the only explanation I have is that I took good care of my ears my whole life. I never made gigs without earplugs, I never went to concerts without them, I never used high volumes on portable devices with headphones. Even at home people always complain why my tv is so silent when we watch films (most of them no musicians of any kind); they barely can't hear a thing - while for me it is almost too loud.

I don't know if there is a relation. But if, then I would advise modern youth under 20 to not depend on their ears, but using tools like the DR meter.

P.S. It just comes to my mind that I always check a mix/master with a specific set of hifi headphones before a final decision. It's a very cheap product from Sony, that unfortunately isn't available anymore for a few years now, Sony MDR-XD100. I just know how it has to sound like when using them, so that may also play a role.

 

Noob question since I'm reading different things online and I'd like an answer from one of the pros here.
For dynamic range do we intend the difference between the loudest and the quietest parts of the entire song, or we mean the difference between the peak and the sound that comes after it?
I mean maybe for an entire song there's a difference of 10; while when the track is pumping the dynamic range is like 3 with the kick as its peak.

 

Dynamic range explained. (and it is measured over time, so of a portion or the entire track.)
Waves WLM gives you a good, realtime readout.
Cheers!

 

even if you measure an entire song in a dr meter it should still measure by the provided time-frame and then calculate the average sum of that,

otherwise, introducing one silent part would mean you'll have an dr rating of 96 dB

 

There are a few different metrics involved if one wishes to be accurate.

Program Loudness (Integrated loudness) is the average loudness of an entire thing (be it an album / song / broadcast) if you are using a loudness metering system be it K system LKFS or LUFS that is you target loudness for the overall program. So if you are looking at an EBU R128 meter that comes with certain ballistics and a gate at which it will no longer measure and average the signal until it climbs back over the gate threshold. The gate is mean to ensure that quiet transitions or silence does not create artificial headroom in the program's integrated measurement. So if we stay with R128 just as a discussion point, the Absolute Gate for measurement is -70 LUFS, under this value the signal is not considered valid and it is no longer averaged into the program's integrated value for loudness. There is however still a Relative gating value which is 10 LUFS below the target loudness where program material measurement will pause for practical reasons, human hearing comfort and all, these signals were meant for broadcast.

All that mumbo jumbo means that European Broadcast Union's R128 standard program meter is set to aim at a maximum of -23 LUFS, with the signal only measured between -33 LUFS and no longer considered valid below -70 LUFS. So there is a a 10 LUFS target range for integrated program material measurements.

There are also other measurements though.

Momentary: These measurements are the base unit of integration, these have a window time of 400ms (.4 seconds) so the signal's average measurement over 400 ms (still with respect to LUFS PAM formulation.) Integration time is passed as a unit forward as defined by the International Telecommunication Union's - Recommendation: Broadcast #1771 for Peak Program Metering(also 400ms.) This paper defines the meters, ballistics and behavior of valid measurement devices (ITU-R BS.1771 .) This is where transient preservation is supposed to come from, a quick loud sound can get through the window an peak quite high without raising the average level very much in almost 1/2 a second.

Short Term: Measurements raise the integration time to 3000ms (3seconds) these 3 second listening units are a good indicator of how loud does it sound right now to the human ear. A bass note or a shout are good indicators.

Max - Momentary is peak in LU over your target (if we are still looking at R128) then this will be a number +/- the target value in Loudness Units. So if your meter is set for R128 and it says [Max momentary: 6.9] that means that during your program playback you had a peak value of 6.9 LU over -23 LUFS = [-16.1 LUFS] in the Momentary Window time of 400ms. It works the same for Max - Short Term, the integration time changes to 3 seconds.

LRA: Loudness Range in LU is a % based measurement over time it is not that complicated to understand the paper for it is here https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3342.pdf

The only things left on your loudness meter should now be the Integrated program Loudness in LU (-X) and the True Peak in dBTP which is an interpolation band limited, digital signals of Full Scale for true peak limiting to prevent ISP.