which plugins should really be calibrated to -18DBFS

Discussion in 'Mixing and Mastering' started by Gyro Gearloose, Jan 30, 2020.

  1. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    :facepalm:fck man...
     
  2. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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  3. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    from overloud
    from kramer
     
  4. That's rather the issue, isn't it? If you stick to the industry standard, you can't get nasty surprises.

    [​IMG]

    Don't measure it, bwoay, yer jest use yer fingers.
     
  5. tun

    tun Rock Star

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    I dont speak for no avenger, but personally i wouldnt want to use a studio ran by somebody who is so easily brainwashed with audio pseudoscience.
    There are far too many of you guys in the industry for my liking.
    Do you plug your cables in a certain direction? Lol
     
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  6. Kwissbeats

    Kwissbeats Audiosexual

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    you really like trolling, don't you? you know that those plugins have input gain controls?
    soo again, despite what their site says, I can feed it anything I like and it still sounds the same.
    the text even says it all: -18 dBFS is a good starting point, but not a fixed rule. Best advice: just use your ears!

    It's getting kinda boring, Instead that I need to prove you wrong, you should prove us with a nice piece of clipped audio.
    that will keep you busy for some time:rofl:
     
  7. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    the point here was that not VA has no sweet spot i think..
     
  8. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    Ain't even necessary, I adjusted Drive (as far as possible) and Level
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    As you can see, at 0dB input (18dB above the 'sweet spot') you have less noise floor :rofl: and a tiny bit more saturation.
    This was just a quick shot means, with a bit less than 55% Drive at -18dB input the distortion would have been the same.
    Like Floris said, 'like Saturn obviously'. :facepalm:
     
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  9. Good.
     
  10. How are you measuring 0dB and -18dB? Because both graphs are showing the same peak loudness of the fundamental at just over -25dBFS.

    What 0dbVU = -18dBFS means is that the loudness of the RMS of a signal (averaged over typically 300ms) is defined to be 18dB below Full Scale. So, in order to read this, you need a VU, RMS or a Dorroughs meter calibrated to match. If you are running Plugin Doctor and send a 0dB peak signal through it followed by a signal -18dB quieter, all you are doing is making the input signal 18dB quieter, you are not measuring a signal at 0vu = -18dBFS, because you don’t have a vu meter inside Plugin Doctor, you just have the peak loudness of the injected signal. So, having made the signal 18 dB quieter you then marvel at the fact the noise floor has risen to match when the signal is normalised back after testing.


    You know, the days of me not taking you seriously are definitely coming to a middle.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 1, 2020
  11. [​IMG]
    At the top there are three numbers: 14, 18, 20. These are the three commonest used standards and you need 18 for -18dBFS = 0 vu.

    There are two parts to the display - the flying single light and pumping lower band. The single light is the peak loudness, in dBFS. It should always be at or below -6dBFS at setting 18. The lower band is the RMS it should be at or below -18 at 0vu = -18dBFS. The rule is no reds.
     
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  12. kooper

    kooper Platinum Record

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    To me the point is whether or not is smashes the signal so all of the dynamics is gone, is more to the point. If you raise the highest peak to 0db but the dynamics is still intact it's not bad. So more to the point is WHAT hits 0db. Is that the highest peak of an "intact dynamics" so that it merely takes advantage of the overhead, or is the whole thing flattened and that flattened wave form then pumped up to 0db?
     
  13. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    Nope, that's wrong! -18dB refers to a sinewave's peak and as you probably know this results in an RMS of -21dB. Therefore setting PD's sinewave to -18dB equals 0VU!
    And even if you were right about -18dB RMS I just needed to set its peak to -15dB, simple as that. No VU-Meter needed.

    As I said, I adjusted Saturn's Level (band's output) so you can compare the results even better.
    That for the higher input the noise floor is lower is just a consequence of the lower drive setting, I'm totally aware of that.

    And besides, I never used a VU-Meter, K-Metering or that dorrough meter for ITB productions. Digital RMS and Peak have always been sufficient.

    Speaking of seriously, I'm still waiting for a proof.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2020
  14. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    With a compressor this depends on the attack time and the threshold. With a threshold set to 0dB (peak) and an attack time of '0' every signal above 0dB (peak) is compressed.
    But with an attack time of e.g. 40ms even a peak of +5dB can remain uncompressed.
    And as I showed in my post #34 even at a level of +10dB CL 1B doesn't add clipping.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2020
  15. Fufutos

    Fufutos Member

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    It's like arguing with Brexiteers. They all think they're qualified to talk about economics when they haven't even gone through GCSEs :rofl:
    Silly jokes aside, are you telling us that your brain & ears are monitoring from inside the box? What is your RME there for? Isn't there any D/A conversion happening before the sound reaches your ears? Isn't the RME the hardware incorporated in your setup? You keep going on about 'using our ears' but how do you trust your ears if you haven't even calibrated your monitoring chain?

    You say 'as long as your final output does not clip it doesn't clip end of story'. Correct, but do you think that if you clip the input of an analog modelled plugin it'll be ok as long as the master output doesn't clip? Are you Skillrex?

    RTFM
    It's all about 'gain staging', sweet spot= 0VU and headroom.
    Conventions and sound engineering standards exist for a reason.
    You haven't even solved the easy problem I've put to you that needs a bit of 'ears'! Says a lot;)
     
  16. tun

    tun Rock Star

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    Oh, youre one of those
     
  17. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    why did you test fabfilter..it has no sweet spot...
    ---
    further...you both use 2 differrent way's to mix...simple as that..
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2020
  18. kooper

    kooper Platinum Record

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    Ok but you can look at the wav form and see whether or not the dynamics has been smashed out. Whatever method you use a person needs to be careful not to alter the dynamics too much.
     
  19. Sinus Well

    Sinus Well Audiosexual

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    Sry gyro, but stop staring at the meters and use your damn ears!
     
  20. Sinus Well

    Sinus Well Audiosexual

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    Sry gyro, but stop staring at the meters and use your damn ears!
     
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