Topic: What processing tool is being used in this video? (Digital Performer 5)

[bbernardini]

This is a video included in NPR's "The Loudness Wars" article. According to the info, it was done in Digital Performer 5. What processing tool in the program are they using to do this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

Link to the full article, if you haven't seen it:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122114058

[easy jim]

They say the processing was done in DP, but the visual graphics in the clip come from a combination of screen capture(s) and image editing software:

This video was made with image editing software and a screen capture program for the visuals, and a DAW (Digital Performer 4.5) to process the audio.

When you see the original wave form, and then the 'louder' wave form, they are clearly just zooming in at first, and then appear to show a compressed/limited wave form after when they compare where the louder peaks would have been.  I believe they would have used either the limiter plug-in, or a combination of the compressor and limiter plug-ins to create the 'louder' wave form.  But, from what they show in the video, there is no way to tell what they actually did.

[easy jim]

The Masterworks Limiter plug-in in DP 5 has excellent rms* input/output level metering to get actual 'loudness' measurement of a mix.  I find my raw AUD sources have rms levels that typically are in the -30 rms for quiet acoustic stuff up to -18 or even -16 rms for loud rock/funk shows with a thick/large-band sound.  When I am mixing a matrix/multitrack source, I shoot for the rms levels of my final mix to be somewhere in the -21 rms to -15 rms range, depending on the dynamic range of the music/performance.  The rub is that the 'standard' for most engineers these days is to push the rms levels down way more than used to be standard (now to -12 or even as much as -6 rms), and they do it in a way that tends to squash out all dynamics of the recording.

* good discussion about rms levels and perceived loudness here: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/mastering-forum/65437-percieved-loudness-rms-level.html