INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 28 for Windows => Topic started by: bodiebill on December 29, 2021, 04:58:54 am

Title: Volume Leveling confusion
Post by: bodiebill on December 29, 2021, 04:58:54 am
Here is an old thread in de MC23 section about Volume Leveling:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,113606.0.html

The OP there noticed that tracks with a negative Volume Level (R128) are louder than tracks with a positive value.
Looking back, I think that the answers he got there are not correct:

As confirmed in this (another) thread:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=103933.0
the formula for calculating the Volume Level (R128) is:

    [Volume Level (R128)] = -23 - {R128 Average Loudness}

Example: if a track is 6 dB louder than the R128 target of -23, it has an R128 Average Loudness of -17. Therefore

     [Volume Level (R128)] = -23 - (-17) = -23 + 17 = -6.

Hence the volume level of a track that is too loud is negative. Hence the OP was right that a track with VL -6 sounds louder than one with a VL of 6, and the answers that followed are confusing or simply wrong.

This is also confirmed by the fact that peak levels of tracks with negative VL are always higher than peak levels of tracks with negative VL.

Unless I have misundersood something of course, so please correct me if I am wrong.
Title: Re: Volume Leveling confusion
Post by: Hendrik on December 29, 2021, 07:17:05 am
Not sure you are asking a question here, but...

The Volume Level field contains the amount of adjustment needed to reach the reference level of -23LUFS (dbFS). So a bigger value means a quieter audio track.
Title: Re: Volume Leveling confusion
Post by: bodiebill on December 29, 2021, 07:48:18 am
My (implicit?) question was whether the way I described it was correct, and you answered it!

And with yes, so that implies that most of the answers in the old thread were incorrect.

Thanks!