User Manual

What Is LU?
A value of 1 LU (loudness unit) represents the smallest difference in audio levels that
humans can actually perceive. Human hearing naturally sums all channels that reach
the ear, so the summed channel meter to the right in the compound meters is an
analysis of the loudness you actually hear.
Loudness Meter Options
Two options in the General Options of the Project Settings let you customize the
Loudness meters.
 Target Loudness level: Lets you set the LUFS value that’s used as a reference level
for loudness metering. Defaults to –23 LUFS, which conveniently makes the display of
these meters scale similarly to traditional audio meters that you’re already used to.
 Loudness Scale: Lets you choose which scale you want to use with which to measure
the meters. Options currently include the default of EBU +9 Scale (–18 to +9), and EBU
+18 Scale (–36 to +18).
Support for Multiple Loudness Standards
The Loudness Meter can be switched among a variety of international industry-standard
loudness monitoring standards. The standard you choose uses the integrated loudness value
(along with a specified tolerance defined by each selected standard) to indicate whether or not
the current mix level is of acceptable loudness via color coding of the Integrated Loudness
value, and in the Integrated Loudness graph described below. Blue values indicate loudness
levels that are below tolerance, yellow indicates loudness values that are within tolerance, and
red indicates loudness values that are above tolerance.
The built-in standards you can switch among include the following:
 BS.1770-1: An older loudness standard used by DaVinci Resolve version 15 and before
 BS.1770-4: The most up-to-date loudness standard as of DaVinci Resolve 16; the
algorithms specified by this standard govern the other standards that are listed below
in this drop-down menu
 ATSC A/85: The American standard for acceptable loudness in broadcast
 EBU R128: The European standard for acceptable loudness in broadcast
 OP-59: The New Zealand and Australian standard for acceptable loudness in broadcast
 TR-B32: The Japanese standard for acceptable loudness in broadcast
 AGCOM 219: The Italian standard for acceptable loudness in broadcast
NOTE: The target peak meter now uses the BS.1774 standard for measuring maximum
“true peak,” which means that this meter is capable of measuring “inter-sample peaks,”
rather than only the peaks at each sample of a waveform.
Chapter – 160 Audio Meters and Audio Monitoring 3322