Loudness Standards in Broadcasting. Case Study of EBU R-128 Implementation at SWR
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Pyloudnorm: a Simple Yet Flexible Loudness Meter in Python
pyloudnorm: A simple yet flexible loudness meter in Python Christian J. Steinmetz 1 Joshua D. Reiss 1 Abstract dardize, simplify, and improve upon previous approaches, the ITU-R BS.1770 recommendation was proposed (ITU-R The ITU-R BS.1770 recommendation for measur- BS.1770-4), and has now seen widespread adoption (Lund, ing the perceived loudness of audio signals has 2011; 2012). The proposed metering algorithm was later seen widespread adoption in broadcasting, and included in the EBU R 128 recommendation, which dictates due to its simplicity, this algorithm has now found loudness for broadcast material (EBU R 128). applications across audio signal processing. Here we describe pyloudnorm, a Python package that The ITU-R BS.1770 recommendation proposes a straight- enables the measurement of integrated loudness forward algorithm consisting of frequency-weighting fil- following the recommendation. While a number ters and gated energy measurements. The algorithm has of implementations are available, ours provides been shown to correlate well with the perceived loudness an easy to install package, a simple interface, and of broadband content, is computationally efficient, and rela- the ability to adjust the algorithm parameters, a tively easy to implement. For all these reasons it has now feature that other implementations neglect. We seen widespread adoption in the broadcast industry, and with discuss a set of modifications that we incorporate the rise of online streaming platforms, interest in content based upon recent literature that aim to improve normalization has sustained (Katz, 2015; Grimm, 2019). the robustness of the loudness measurement. Fi- While this recommendation has been found to correlate nally, we perform an evaluation comparing the ac- well with broadband content, further listening studies have curacy and runtime of pyloudnorm with six other discovered that this is not always the case, especially for nar- implementations, identifying issues with several rowband content (Cabrera et al., 2008; Pestana et al., 2013; of theses implementations. -
The End of the Loudness War?
The End Of The Loudness War? By Hugh Robjohns As the nails are being hammered firmly into the coffin of competitive loudness processing, we consider the implications for those who make, mix and master music. In a surprising announcement made at last Autumn's AES convention in New York, the well-known American mastering engineer Bob Katz declared in a press release that "The loudness wars are over.” That's quite a provocative statement — but while the reality is probably not quite as straightforward as Katz would have us believe (especially outside the USA), there are good grounds to think he may be proved right over the next few years. In essence, the idea is that if all music is played back at the same perceived volume, there's no longer an incentive for mix or mastering engineers to compete in these 'loudness wars'. Katz's declaration of victory is rooted in the recent adoption by the audio and broadcast industries of a new standard measure of loudness and, more recently still, the inclusion of automatic loudness-normalisation facilities in both broadcast and consumer playback systems. In this article, I'll explain what the new standards entail, and explore what the practical implications of all this will be for the way artists, mixing and mastering engineers — from bedroom producers publishing their tracks online to full-time music-industry and broadcast professionals — create and shape music in the years to come. Some new technologies are involved and some new terminology too, so I'll also explore those elements, as well as suggesting ways of moving forward in the brave new world of loudness normalisation. -
Psychoacoustics Perception of Normal and Impaired Hearing with Audiology Applications Editor-In-Chief for Audiology Brad A
PSYCHOACOUSTICS Perception of Normal and Impaired Hearing with Audiology Applications Editor-in-Chief for Audiology Brad A. Stach, PhD PSYCHOACOUSTICS Perception of Normal and Impaired Hearing with Audiology Applications Jennifer J. Lentz, PhD 5521 Ruffin Road San Diego, CA 92123 e-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.pluralpublishing.com Copyright © 2020 by Plural Publishing, Inc. Typeset in 11/13 Adobe Garamond by Flanagan’s Publishing Services, Inc. Printed in the United States of America by McNaughton & Gunn, Inc. All rights, including that of translation, reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution, or information storage and retrieval systems without the prior written consent of the publisher. For permission to use material from this text, contact us by Telephone: (866) 758-7251 Fax: (888) 758-7255 e-mail: [email protected] Every attempt has been made to contact the copyright holders for material originally printed in another source. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will gladly make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Lentz, Jennifer J., author. Title: Psychoacoustics : perception of normal and impaired hearing with audiology applications / Jennifer J. Lentz. Description: San Diego, CA : Plural Publishing, -
EBU R 128 – the EBU Loudness Recommendation
10 things you need to know about... EBU R 128 – the EBU loudness recommendation 1 EBU R 128 is at the core of a true audio revolution: audio levelling based on loudness, not peaks Audio signal normalisation based on peaks has led to more and more dynamic compression and a phenomenon called the ‘Loudness War’. The problem arose because of misuse of the traditional metering method (Quasi Peak Programme Meter – QPPM) and the extended headroom due to digital delivery. Loudness normalisation ends the ‘Loudness War’ and brings audio peace to the audience. 2 ITU-R BS.1770-2 defines the basic measurement, EBU R 128 builds on it and extends it BS.1770-2 is an international standard that describes a method to measure loudness, an inherently subjective impression. It introduces ‘K-weighting’, a simple weighting curve that leads to a good match between subjective impression and objective measurement. EBU R 128 takes BS.1770-2 and extends it with the descriptor Loudness Range and the Target Level: -23 LUFS (Loudness Units referenced to Full Scale). A tolerance of ± 1 LU is generally acceptable. 3 Gating of the measurement is used to achieve better loudness matching of programmes that contain longer periods of silence Longer periods of silence in programmes lead to a lower measured loudness level. After subsequent loudness normalisation such programmes would end up too loud. In BS.1770-2 a relative gate of 10 LU (Loudness Units; 1 LU is equivalent to 1dB) below the ungated loudness level is used to eliminate these low level periods from the measurement. -
Music Is Made up of Many Different Things Called Elements. They Are the “I Feel Like My Kind Building Bricks of Music
SECONDARY/KEY STAGE 3 MUSIC – BUILDING BRICKS 5 MINUTES READING #1 Music is made up of many different things called elements. They are the “I feel like my kind building bricks of music. When you compose a piece of music, you use the of music is a big pot elements of music to build it, just like a builder uses bricks to build a house. If of different spices. the piece of music is to sound right, then you have to use the elements of It’s a soup with all kinds of ingredients music correctly. in it.” - Abigail Washburn What are the Elements of Music? PITCH means the highness or lowness of the sound. Some pieces need high sounds and some need low, deep sounds. Some have sounds that are in the middle. Most pieces use a mixture of pitches. TEMPO means the fastness or slowness of the music. Sometimes this is called the speed or pace of the music. A piece might be at a moderate tempo, or even change its tempo part-way through. DYNAMICS means the loudness or softness of the music. Sometimes this is called the volume. Music often changes volume gradually, and goes from loud to soft or soft to loud. Questions to think about: 1. Think about your DURATION means the length of each sound. Some sounds or notes are long, favourite piece of some are short. Sometimes composers combine long sounds with short music – it could be a song or a piece of sounds to get a good effect. instrumental music. How have the TEXTURE – if all the instruments are playing at once, the texture is thick. -
Timbre Perception
HST.725 Music Perception and Cognition, Spring 2009 Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology Course Director: Dr. Peter Cariani Timbre perception www.cariani.com Friday, March 13, 2009 overview Roadmap functions of music sound, ear loudness & pitch basic qualities of notes timbre consonance, scales & tuning interactions between notes melody & harmony patterns of pitches time, rhythm, and motion patterns of events grouping, expectation, meaning interpretations music & language Friday, March 13, 2009 Wikipedia on timbre In music, timbre (pronounced /ˈtæm-bər'/, /tɪm.bər/ like tamber, or / ˈtæm(brə)/,[1] from Fr. timbre tɛ̃bʁ) is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that mediate the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope. Timbre is also known in psychoacoustics as tone quality or tone color. For example, timbre is what, with a little practice, people use to distinguish the saxophone from the trumpet in a jazz group, even if both instruments are playing notes at the same pitch and loudness. Timbre has been called a "wastebasket" attribute[2] or category,[3] or "the psychoacoustician's multidimensional wastebasket category for everything that cannot be qualified as pitch or loudness."[4] 3 Friday, March 13, 2009 Timbre ~ sonic texture, tone color Paul Cezanne. "Apples, Peaches, Pears and Grapes." Courtesy of the iBilio.org WebMuseum. Paul Cezanne, Apples, Peaches, Pears, and Grapes c. 1879-80); Oil on canvas, 38.5 x 46.5 cm; The Hermitage, St. Petersburg Friday, March 13, 2009 Timbre ~ sonic texture, tone color "Stilleben" ("Still Life"), by Floris van Dyck, 1613. -
Lumens and Loudness: Projector Noise in a Nutshell
Lumens and loudness: Projector noise in a nutshell Jackhammers tearing up the street outside; the In this white paper, we’re going to take a closer look at projector noise: what causes neighbor’s dog barking at squirrels; the hum of it, how to measure it, and how to keep it to a minimum. the refrigerator: noise is a fixture in our daily Why do projectors make noise? lives, and projectors are no exception. Like many high-tech devices, they depend on cooling There’s more than one source of projector noise, of course, but cooling fans are by systems that remove excess heat before it can far the major offender—and there’s no way around them. Especially projector bulbs cause permanent damage, and these systems give off a lot of heat. This warmth must be continuously removed or the projector will overheat, resulting in serious damage to the system. The fans that keep air unavoidably produce noise. flowing through the projector, removing heat before it can build to dangerous levels, make noise. Fans can’t help but make noise: they are designed to move air, and the movement of air is what makes sound. How much sound they make depends on their construction: the angle of the blades, their size, number and spacing, their surface quality, and the fan’s rotational speed. Moreover, for projector manufacturers it’s also key not to place a fan too close to an air vent or any kind of mesh, or they’ll end up with the siren effect: very annoying high-frequency, pure-tone noise caused by the sudden interruption of the air flow by the vent bars or the mesh wires. -
Psychoacoustics and Its Benefit for the Soundscape
ACTA ACUSTICA UNITED WITH ACUSTICA Vol. 92 (2006) 1 – 1 Psychoacoustics and its Benefit for the Soundscape Approach Klaus Genuit, André Fiebig HEAD acoustics GmbH, Ebertstr. 30a, 52134 Herzogenrath, Germany. [klaus.genuit][andre.fiebig]@head- acoustics.de Summary The increase of complaints about environmental noise shows the unchanged necessity of researching this subject. By only relying on sound pressure levels averaged over long time periods and by suppressing all aspects of quality, the specific acoustic properties of environmental noise situations cannot be identified. Because annoyance caused by environmental noise has a broader linkage with various acoustical properties such as frequency spectrum, duration, impulsive, tonal and low-frequency components, etc. than only with SPL [1]. In many cases these acoustical properties affect the quality of life. The human cognitive signal processing pays attention to further factors than only to the averaged intensity of the acoustical stimulus. Therefore, it appears inevitable to use further hearing-related parameters to improve the description and evaluation of environmental noise. A first step regarding the adequate description of environmental noise would be the extended application of existing measurement tools, as for example level meter with variable integration time and third octave analyzer, which offer valuable clues to disturbing patterns. Moreover, the use of psychoacoustics will allow the improved capturing of soundscape qualities. PACS no. 43.50.Qp, 43.50.Sr, 43.50.Rq 1. Introduction disturbances and unpleasantness of environmental noise, a negative feeling evoked by sound. However, annoyance is The meaning of soundscape is constantly transformed and sensitive to subjectivity, thus the social and cultural back- modified. -
3A Whatissound Part 2
What is Sound? Part II Timbre & Noise Prayouandi (2010) - OneOhtrix Point Never 1 PSYCHOACOUSTICS ACOUSTICS LOUDNESS AMPLITUDE PITCH FREQUENCY QUALITY TIMBRE 2 Timbre / Quality everything that is not frequency / pitch or amplitude / loudness envelope - the attack, sustain, and decay portions of a sound spectra - the aggregate of simple waveforms (partials) that make up the frequency space of a sound. noise - the inharmonic and unpredictable fuctuations in the sound / signal 3 envelope 4 envelope ADSR 5 6 Frequency Spectrum 7 Spectral Analysis 8 Additive Synthesis 9 Organ Harmonics 10 Spectral Analysis 11 Cancellation and Reinforcement In-phase, out-of-phase and composite wave forms 12 (max patch) Tone as the sum of partials 13 harmonic / overtone series the fundamental is the lowest partial - perceived pitch A harmonic partial conforms to the overtone series which are whole number multiples of the fundamental frequency(f) (f)1, (f)2, (f)3, (f)4, etc. if f=110 110, 220, 330, 440 doubling = 1 octave An inharmonic partial is outside of the overtone series, it does not have a whole number multiple relationship with the fundamental. 14 15 16 Basic Waveforms fundamental only, no additional harmonics odd partials only (1,3,5,7...) 1 / p2 (3rd partial has 1/9 the energy of the fundamental) all partials 1 / p (3rd partial has 1/3 the energy of the fundamental) only odd-numbered partials 1 / p (3rd partial has 1/3 the energy of the fundamental) 17 (max patch) Spectrogram (snapshot) 18 Identifying Different Instruments 19 audio sonogram of 2 bird trills 20 Spear (software) audio surgery? isolate partials within a complex sound 21 the physics of noise Random additions to a signal By fltering white noise, we get different types (colors) of noise, parallels to visible light White Noise White noise is a random noise that contains an equal amount of energy in all frequency bands. -
The Human Ear Hearing, Sound Intensity and Loudness Levels
UIUC Physics 406 Acoustical Physics of Music The Human Ear Hearing, Sound Intensity and Loudness Levels We’ve been discussing the generation of sounds, so now we’ll discuss the perception of sounds. Human Senses: The astounding ~ 4 billion year evolution of living organisms on this planet, from the earliest single-cell life form(s) to the present day, with our current abilities to hear / see / smell / taste / feel / etc. – all are the result of the evolutionary forces of nature associated with “survival of the fittest” – i.e. it is evolutionarily{very} beneficial for us to be able to hear/perceive the natural sounds that do exist in the environment – it helps us to locate/find food/keep from becoming food, etc., just as vision/sight enables us to perceive objects in our 3-D environment, the ability to move /locomote through the environment enhances our ability to find food/keep from becoming food; Our sense of balance, via a stereo-pair (!) of semi-circular canals (= inertial guidance system!) helps us respond to 3-D inertial forces (e.g. gravity) and maintain our balance/avoid injury, etc. Our sense of taste & smell warn us of things that are bad to eat and/or breathe… Human Perception of Sound: * The human ear responds to disturbances/temporal variations in pressure. Amazingly sensitive! It has more than 6 orders of magnitude in dynamic range of pressure sensitivity (12 orders of magnitude in sound intensity, I p2) and 3 orders of magnitude in frequency (20 Hz – 20 KHz)! * Existence of 2 ears (stereo!) greatly enhances 3-D localization of sounds, and also the determination of pitch (i.e. -
Loudness Range: a Measure to Supplement Loudness Normalisation in Accordance with EBU R 128
EBU – TECH 3342 Loudness Range: A measure to supplement loudness normalisation in accordance with EBU R 128 Supplementary information for R 128 Geneva August 2011 1 Page intentionally left blank. This document is paginated for two sided printing Tech 3342-2011 Loudness Range measure to supplement loudness normalisation Contents 1. Introduction...................................................................................... 5 2. Loudness Range ................................................................................. 5 3. Algorithm Description.......................................................................... 5 3.1 Algorithm Definition.......................................................................................6 4. Minimum requirements, compliance test.................................................. 7 5. MATLAB implementation ...................................................................... 8 6. References ....................................................................................... 9 7. Further reading ................................................................................. 9 3 Loudness Range measure to supplement loudness normalisation Tech 3342-2011 Page intentionally left blank. This document is paginated for two sided printing 4 Tech 3342-2011 Loudness Range measure to supplement loudness normalisation Loudness Range: A measure to supplement Loudness normalisation in accordance with EBU R 128 EBU Committee First Issued Revised Re-issued Technical Committee 2010 2011 Keywords: Loudness, -
Understanding the Loudness Penalty
How To kick into overdrive back then, and by the end of the decade was soon a regular topic of discussion in online mastering forums. There was so much interest in the topic that in 2010 I decided to set up Dynamic Range Day — an online event to further raise awareness of the issue. People loved it, and it got a lot of support from engineers like Bob Ludwig, Steve Lillywhite and Guy Massey plus manufacturers such as SSL, TC Electronic, Bowers & Wilkins and NAD. But it didn’t work. Like the TurnMeUp initiative before it, the event was mostly preaching to the choir, while other engineers felt either unfairly criticised for honing their skills to achieve “loud but good” results, or trapped by their clients’ constant demands to be louder than the next act. The Loudness Unit At the same time though, the world of loudness was changing in three important ways. Firstly, the tireless efforts of Florian Camerer, Thomas Lund, Eelco Grimm and many others helped achieve the official adoption of the Loudness Unit (LU, or LUFS). Loudness standards for TV and radio broadcast were quick to follow, since sudden changes in loudness are the main Understanding the source of complaints from listeners and users. Secondly, online streaming began to gain significant traction. I wrote back in 2009 about Spotify’s decision to include loudness Loudness Penalty normalisation from the beginning, and sometime in 2014 YouTube followed suit, with TIDAL and Deezer soon afterwards. And How to make your mix sound good on Spotify — crucially, people noticed. This is the third IAN SHEPHERD explains the loudness disarmament process important change I mentioned — people were paying attention.