Audacity Forum

Hello folks,
I posted this to a friend on another site
then thought...hey maybe there is a audacity forum ...so I just joined.
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do you have/used audacity?
a klang lufs meter?
with the klang, I can hit "apply" to a song, I can adjust then hit apply also, this changes loudness and size (height) of wav.
I think I can export to 24 bit by selecting "other" then selecting 24 bit.
I would like to do this to several songs to make all same.
industry master standards? -11 lufs? iTunes -16? yada yada.
or am I way over my head....as usual.
I think I need a sample wav at -11 or -12 for comparison, (like to be sure).
thoughts? comments?.....just go away I am bothering you?
thanks man.
Bill
.............................................
any answers might help...or not.
thanks,
Bill

I think you first need to understand what the new LUFS system is.

It's a recommendation for EU broadcast stations. The ITU has turned it into a world-wide recommendation. It is a way to define loudness before entering the final compression in broadcast. It is not very different from the ancient VU-meter, only it's time constant is much, much longer. A VU meter has a time constant of around 30 msec, the LUFS system has a time constant of several minutes.

It's a measurement system, but the blogosphere has turned it into a magic wand. Which it isn't.

Having a plugin that shows LUFS levels is a beginning. Supposing you've heard about the KlangFreund LUFS meter, it is not a compressor. It's just a meter. The idea is to use it once you're done mixing, to adjust levels before you go into final mastering. But the KlangFreund LUFS meter doesn't do that automatically. It just shows you where you are.

https://www.klangfreund.com/lufsmeter/

In practice, if your audio is to loud, the broadcaster's compressor will turn it down automatically and it might not sound as you intented. If it's too quiet, the compressor will turn it up without much side-effects.

It's a means to end the loudness war.

Those who exaggerate compression and will even allow their audio to clip to be the loudest song on the playlist, will be punished, cause their song will sound bad. And it won't be any louder than the rest.

Those who abide by the loudness rules, will see their material pass without change. And those whose material is too quiet, will hear their audio on the same level as any other song.

Another thing the blogosphere has done, is invented a number of levels that haven't been decided yet. The only level that is clear atm, is -18 to -16 LUFS for broadcast. Someone invented -12 LUFS for podcasts. But that is completely besides the point, since podcasts don't pass through the allmighty broadcast compressor.

I have the meter.
this IS Klangfreunds video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ6-sAkG4AQ

I thank you for the response.

Audacity does not have a built-in LUFS meter, but there are VST LUFS meters available which may work with Audacity on Windows.
All LUFS meters should give the same loudness measurement, so whether you use the Klangfreund, Hornet Elm128 or any other LUFS meter, you 'should' get the same measurement.

Once you have your measurement, to achieve a specific loudness measurement, you just need to amplify by the difference (in dB) between the measured loudness and your target loudness. For example, if you measure an integrated loudness of -20 LUFS and you want the audio to be -16 LUFS, then you need to increase the level by
-16 - -20 = +20 - +16 = +4 dB.

Note that amplifying could cause the audio to clip, so it is important to also check the peak level.
For example, if your peak level is -3 dB, then amplifying by +4 dB will cause the audio to clip because the peak level would be +1 dB, but the absolute maximum peak level for integer format digital audio is 0 dB.

To increase the loudness beyond what the peak level allows, you would need to "squash" the highest peaks down a bit so that the overall average level can be increased. To do that you would use a limiter or a compressor.