TC electronic SDN BHD Loudness Radar Meter LM5D - Manual (Page 9)

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PRESETS
The following presets have been loaded as factory defaults. Factory presets all use the
LFS scale, Program time and 4 minutes per Radar Revolution. You may store new
presets with a ProTools session based on your own preferences.
You may switch between presets on the fly without resetting the Radar,
thereby easily changing scale, zoom etc.
Broadcast HD
0 LU Equals: -22 LFS
Low Level Below: -18 LU (Equals –40 LFS in this case).
Radar Resolution: 6 dB per division
True-peak Indicator: -6 dBFS
Broadcast SD
0 LU Equals: -20 LFS
Low Level Below: -12 LU (Equals –32 LFS in this case).
Radar Resolution: 6 dB per division
True-peak Indicator: -6 dBFS
Film Mix
0 LU Equals: -24 LFS
Low Level Below: -24 LU (Equals –48 LFS in this case).
Radar Resolution: 10 dB per division
True-peak Indicator: -3 dBFS
Mastering Pop
0 LU Equals: -12 LFS
Low Level Below: -12 LU (Equals –24 LFS in this case).
Radar Resolution: 4 dB per division
True-peak Indicator: 0 dBFS
Mastering Wide
0 LU Equals: -20 LFS
Low Level Below: -24 LU (Equals –44 LFS in this case).
Radar Resolution: 10 dB per division
True-peak Indicator: 0 dBFS
Standard EBU
0 LU Equals: -18 LFS
Low Level Below: -9 LU (Equals –27 LFS in this case).
Radar Resolution: 4 dB per division
True-peak Indicator: -6 dBFS
Standard NAB
0 LU Equals: -20 LFS
Low Level Below: -9 LU (Equals –29 LFS in this case).
Radar Resolution: 4 dB per division
True-peak Indicator: -6 dBFS
Fig 9, Examples of 5.1 movie left (Matrix) and stereo, classical music right (Bolero).
Both examples are shown on a 12 minute per revolution Radar with 10 dB between
divisions.
Level versus Loudness
When level normalization in audio distribution is based on a peak level measure, it
favors low dynamic range signatures as shown in Fig 1. This is what has happened to
CD.
Quasi-peak level meters have this effect. They tell little about loudness, and also
require a headroom in order to stay clear of distortion. Using IEC 268-18 meters, the
headroom needed is typically 8-9 dB.
Sample based meters are also widely used, but tell even less about loudness. Max
sample detection is the general rule in digital mixers and DAWs. The side effect of
using such a simplistic measure has become clear over the last decade, and CD music
production stands as a monument over its deficiency. In numerous TC papers, it has
been demonstrated how sample based peak meters require a headroom of at least 3
dB in order to prevent distortion and listener fatigue.
The only type of standard level instrument that does not display some sort of peak
level is the VU meter. Though developed for another era, this kind of meter is arguably
better at presenting an audio segment’s center of gravity. However, a VU meter is not
perceptually optimized, or ideal for looking at audio with markedly different dynamic
range signatures.