LMn Manual

Appendix: Level versus loudness
LM2n / LM6n Manual 31
In LM2n and LM6n, short-term, mid-term and
long-term of loudness measurements are tied
together coherently, and displayed in novel ways
(angular reading and radar) that were preferred
in its development and test phases. However, we
remain open to suggestions for further improve-
ment of the visualization of loudness.
Postscript
Control of loudness is the only audio issue that
has made It to the political agenda. Political reg-
ulation is currently being put into effect in Europe
to prevent hearing damage and disturbances
from PA systems, and to avoid annoying level
jumps during commercial breaks in television. In
Australia, something similar may happen.
Many years of research into loudness of not only
dialog, but also of loudness relating to any type
of audio programming, has brought TC to the
forefront of companies in the world to perform
real-time loudness measurement and control.
Therefore, TC has taken active part in loud-
ness standardization efforts in Japan, the United
States, Europe and other areas.
In broadcast, digitization is driving the number
of AV channels and platforms up, while the total
number of viewers remains roughly the same. On
the sound production side, it is therefore impor-
tant that delivery criteria can be easily specified
and met, even by people not primarily concerned
with audio: Journalists, musicians, video editors,
marketing professionals etc.
Using only dialog-based audio measurements
in digital broadcast has led to ambiguous level
management, more level jumps between pro-
grams, and extra time spent on audio produc-
tion and management in general. Non-dialog
based level jumps are currently creating havoc
in digital TV, and LM2n/ LM6n helps correct that
situation.
LM2n/ LM6n can be used to control level and
improve sound – not only in Dolby AC3-based
transmissions, but also on other broadcast plat-
forms, such as analog TV, mobile TV and IPTV.
To summarize:
LM2n/ LM6n is part of a holistic and universal
approach to loudness control, starting at the
production or live engineer. When she realizes
the dynamic range at her disposal, less process-
ing is needed at later stages of a distribution
chain. The chain ends with the capability of qual-
ity controlling everything upstream by applying
the same loudness measure for logging purpos-
es: A closed loop.
Welcome to a new, standardized world of au-
dio leveling – across genres, across formats,
across the globe.