Understanding Loudness
What is Loudness?
In the DigaSystem, audio loudness is described by the following five values:
Name | DigaSystem field name | BroadcastSystem field name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
ILK | LOUDNESS/ILK | Audio_ILK | Integrated Loudness Key |
LRA | LOUDNESS/LRA | Audio_LRA | Loudness Range. Describes the dynamic of the audio. |
MaxML | LOUDNESS/MAXML | Audio_MAXML | Maximum Momentary Loudness. The highest value of an audio signal (in LUFS; over a short integration time, e.g. 400ms) |
MaxSL | LOUDNESS/MAXSL | Audio_MAXSL | Maximum Short-Term Loudness. Highest value of an audio signal’s short-term Loudness level (in LUFS; integration time ca. 3 s) |
dbTP | LOUDNESS/DBTP | Audio_DBTP | True Peak in dB |
These values can be compared against a loudness recommendation, which specifies the limits/ranges for being loudness compliant or non-compliant. The most commonly known loudness recommendation is EBU R 128[1], which specifies an ILK target of -23.0 LUFS and a tolerance of ± 0.5 LU.
For further information see https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/r/r128.pdf
Loudness States in DigaSystem
There are five loudness states in DigaSystem, displayed as loudness values or the “loudness ear” in the corresponding state color (these colors can be customized).
Loudness Ears indicate whether an audio entry matches the defined Loudness requirements or not. This icon is only displayed for entries which have loudness metadata.
| Icon | State | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Compliant | The audio entry fully matches the defined Loudness criteria. |
| Correctable | The audio entry is not Loudness compliant but can be normalized to loudness compliance through an automated gain adjustment. |
| Not Correctable | The audio entry is not Loudness compliant, but cannot be normalized to loudness compliance through an automatic gain adjustment. |
| Ignored | The flag "Audio_IgnoreLoudness" or "LOUDNESS/DISABLE" has been set for the element. Entries can be set to this state to exclude them from any loudness relevance. |
| Invalid | This icon appears for entries with invalid loudness data. |
| none | none | The audio has not been analyzed for loudness values yet. |
Please note, that the color of the ears can be changed, therefore this list represents the default colors:
Loudness columns in Content Manager
Following fields can be configured as columns in Content Manager
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
Ear | Displaying loudness state in DigaSystem (see above) |
ILK | see above, non-compliant values can be colored |
DBTP | see above, non-compliant values can be colored |
LRA | see above, non-compliant values can be colored |
MAXML | see above, non-compliant values can be colored |
MAXSL | see above, non-compliant values can be colored |
Example entries with all 6 loudness columns configured
