We took the latest high-tech metering algorithms from the guys in the lab and made them easy to use.
Proper levels can be elusive.
People want to listen to your recordings everywhere and on every device. They want to listen in noisy subways, on their computers and in their living rooms. iPods... iPads... Ay Caramba!
Maybe you've heard of the K-System. If not, I'll quickly explain. Mastering engineer Bob Katz invented it to help audio engineers mix and master at standardized levels. It's based around three scales: K-12, K-14, and K-20. You select which scale to use based on genre and delivery format. K-12 is for broadcast and radio. K-14 is for mainstream pop, rock, and country. K-20 is for film, classical, and high-fidelity recordings. The scales provide an increasing amount of dynamic range. Think of them as a guide. Nothing more and nothing less. The K-System does not replace experience or attention to detail, but it provides a useful starting point that can save you time and money.
Guitars need tuning and so do studios.
Calibrating a studio can be daunting. Entire books have been written on the subject. K-Meter will not turn your studio into a Skywalker Sound scoring stage but it will help you get the fundamentals right. Here's how.
Have a seat in your editing chair. Comfy? Good. Press K-Meter's left noise toggle. You should hear pink noise coming out of your left monitor. This type of noise is often heard in nature and is notoriously difficult to simulate. It contains an equal amount of energy in each octave and sounds less harsh than white noise. Now, hold your sound level meter in front of you (inexpensive meters are available at RadioShack or as an iPhone app). Does it display a level of 83 dB SPL? If not, adjust your left monitor gain until it does. Repeat this process for the right monitor. You now have a fully calibrated, K-System compatible recording environment.
Peak meters lie.
Most software-based peak meters under-read peaks by up to 3 dB. They aren't intentionally misleading -- it turns out that accurately detecting peaks is not simple...
The problem is that audio software processes sampled-audio instead of continuous analog waveforms. Think of it like time-lapse photography. When playing back time-lapsed photos you get a sense of motion, but the motion is not smooth due to gaps between the photos. In fact, if the photos are taken too far apart, you might miss entire events. It is the same with peak detection. If the gaps between audio samples are too large, a peak detector might miss an overload. The solution is to upsample audio signals before detecting peaks. This is referred to as True Peak metering and is becoming industry standard. K-Meter can upsample a signal up to 4 times its original sample rate. For example, a 48 kHz signal can be upsampled to 192 kHz before detecting peaks. This reduces the error from 3 dB to less than 1/2 dB. No more unwanted distortion and clipping.
Your ears are subjective and so is K-Meter.
K-Meter supports the latest industry standard tools for subjective loudness measurements. Its LUFS/LKFS measurements (400 ms and 3 s) are fully compatible with EBU R128's momentary and short-term measurements. Note that K-Meter does not support a gated, integrated measurement (i.e. a measurement lasting the entire programme duration). In many cases, this is not an issue. For example, K-Meter is ideal for short recordings, live events and for long recordings where exact conformance is not required. Please contact our support team if you have any questions regarding K-Meter's applicability to your project.
"When I was in need of a loudness meter that meets the new LKFS standard, I found Audio Pluggers K-Meter. It's simple to use, easy to understand and does the job perfectly. Anyone mixing for broadcast should own the Audio Pluggers K-Meter." - Angelo Panetta (www.panettastudios.com)