Loudness levels on DCPs

There are three common sound levels on DCPs:

  • Feature movie theatre mix loudness level – 85dB SPL standard reference level.
  • LEQ(m) trailer TASA 85 dB loudness level
  • LEQ(m) commercials SAWA 82 dB loudness level

Feature movie theatre mix loudness level – 85dB SPL standard reference level

Cinemas are calibrated to the SMPTE RP 200:2012 standard where a -20 dB RMS pink noise signal is measured to 85 dBc and the reference fader level is set to 0.

There is no setting in loudness plugins for an 85 dBc SPL cinema mix, but the Netflix loudness level setting can be used as a reference. 

When Netflix looked for a sound standard, they found that  
-27 (+/-2) LKFS dialogue gated loudness level
matches a lot of films. When I checked the sound mix on feature films I have worked on I found that theatrical mixes also usually have -27 (+/-2), but dialogue sound levels can vary between countries. Some can be as low as -32. Drama films can have a lower dialogue level than action films.

Read more about checking the Netflix loudness level in this post.

Measuring the Netflix loudness level in Resolve

In the Fairlight module in Resolve

Right-click the audio

Choose Analyze audio

Choose the loudness standard Netflix and click analyze

Result

Integrated -26.7. Dialogue 39 percent.
It does not measure LRA.
True Peak -0.1 dBFS.


LEQ(m) trailer TASA 85 dB loudness level

The TASA loudness standard says that a quiet trailer should have a normal dialogue level. A normal trailer dialogue level is often -20 Netflix loudness level.

LEQ(m) commercials SAWA 82 dB loudness level

The SAWA 82 LEQ(m) standard

The sound mixes on commercials are often run through more limiters/compressors and have less dynamics than trailers and features.

LEQ(m) TASA 85 dB and SAWA 82 dB can be measured in the Nugen Vislm plugin in Resolve or Pro Tools Ultimate.

Video files can have different loudness levels:


Near field 5.1 Netflix loudness Mix
-79dB SPL or 82dB SPL standard reference level
-27 LKFS/Integrated loudness (+/-2) dialogue gated
-Max true peak -2

BS. 1770-2.3.4
-Integrated loudness -24 (+/-2)
-Max true peak -2
-Program loudness gate

EBU R128
-Integrated loudness -23 (+/-0,5)
-Max true peak -1
-Program loudness gate

Video streaming Delivery (RX 10)
-Integrated loudness -14 (+/-2)
-Max true peak -1
-Program loudness gate

Loudness/Normalizing tools

To change the loudness level to a cinema sound level you can use Resolve

If the mix is 5.1 I normalize the level so that it will fit the Feature, Commercial, or Trailer sound levels.

If the sound is in stereo, I normalize the sound to a level that will not clip in the Waves DTS neural 5.1 upmix plugin, usually around:
-Integrated loudness -24 to -35 (program loudness gate)
-Max peak -8.
And then I upmix to 5.1 in Pro Tools or Upmix in Resolve

Then I normalize the 5.1 mix again to a level that will fit the Feature, Commercial, or Trailer sound level.

Normalizing in the Fairlight module in Resolve

Right-click the audio

Choose Analyze audio


Choose a loudness standard like ITU-R BS. 1770-4 and click on analyze

The True Peak is -2.1 and the loudness is -19.6
If I want to lower this to True Peak -6.6 and Loudness -24 I use Normalize Audio Levels.

Close Analyze Audio Levels
Right-click the audio and choose
Normalize Audio Levels
Normalization Mode = ITU-R BS. 1770-4
Target loudness = -24
and then click normalize

After the audio is normalized use
Analyze Audio Levels again.

Read more about normalizing audio in my e-book.

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