Our lighting and sound courses can be found at https://school.learnlightandsound.com!
Before we export our videos, we all have to optimize the loudness of the audio. Traditionally, we use compression and then boost the levels. But that can sometimes sound a bit unnatural for dialogue if you have to compress the audio quite hard. Here’s a way to maybe make it a bit more transparent and easier for your audience to listen to, by using a leveler first, then just a bit of compression.
You can learn more about and buy iZotope Nectar 4 Advanced over at https://www.izotope.com/en/shop/nectar-4-advanced/
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. Our latest courses cover Sound for Live Streaming with the ATEM Mini and an Intro to Izotope RX. See https://school.learnlightandsound.com for more info!
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Gear used or mentioned in this episode (the links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases):
Some of my other studio gear:
- Earthworks ETHOS microphone — https://geni.us/8G8UdBB
- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel — https://geni.us/9ZfE77
- Universal Audio Apollo x6 — https://geni.us/NO4X
- Impact Turtle-Base C-Stands — https://geni.us/8a8tt
- Aputure LS 600x Pro Bicolor LED Light — https://geni.us/EreRQa
- Aputure Light Dome III Softbox — https://geni.us/AVHU1p
- Amaran 300c RGBWW Single-Point LED Light — https://geni.us/uGkDX
- Amaran Spotlight SE — https://geni.us/4DuyTz
- Rosco Prismatic Glass Gobo in Cool Lavender — https://geni.us/GWKt
- Canon C70 Cinema Camera — https://geni.us/ABYB
- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8 lens — https://geni.us/qwsEs
- Panasonic GH5 camera — https://geni.us/InspOl
- Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 II lens — https://geni.us/gr47
The outro music for this episode is from Musicbed - “Dynamo” by Virgil Arles. Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself: https://geni.us/G7by
Copyright 2024, Curtis Judd
#loud #loudness #leveler
Index
00:00 Introduction
00:11 Turn off stable volume
00:19 The problem with boosting levels
00:39 Compression helps, but sometimes unnatural
01:05 DaVinci Resolve Fairlight dialogue leveler — but not great
01:43 iZotope Nectar 4 advanced Auto-level
02:43 What is loudness range and where should it be?
03:08 Loudness targets and why I target -17 LUFS
04:01 Leveling (Nectar Advanced Auto-level)
06:05 Samples with and without leveler
06:55 Leveler results: Loudness and loudness range
07:20 Aiming for loudness target and headroom
08:00 Then a compressor to create just a bit more headroom
08:50 Loudness normalize
09:15 Why is dB true peak headroom important?
10:10 Convert mono to stereo or dual mono
10:36 Final results