TTDROfflineMeterSoftware(Windows) TTDYNAMICRANGEMETERVSTPlugin(Windows)

ManualVersion1.1
DearUser, Congratulationsoncommittingyourselftomoredynamicmusic! SimplyallowingforpeakheadroomduringCDmasteringwillleadtoasignificantimprovement ofsoundqualitywith"normal"consumerplaybackdevices,MP3datacompressionformats, andwithradiobroadcasts. MeasurementanddisplayoftheDynamicRangeaswellassplittingthedynamicsintowhole numbervaluesisnotwithoutcomplexity,aswehavediscoveredthroughtheresearchand developmentstagesoffindingthissolution. Pleasereadthismanualcarefullysothattheaimofobtainingbettersoundcanbereached. Wearehappytoshareourknowledgewithyou. Installation Toinstall,simplyclickonthe"TTDRInstall.exe"file.Inthe"Programs"folder,afoldercalled "TTDynamicRange"willbecreatedwithinthe"Algorithmix"subfolder.YoucanstarttheTTDR OfflineMeterwithaliaswhichiscreatedautomaticallyonyourdesktop. NowopenthefolderC:\Programs\Algorithmix\TTDynamicRange)anddropthe"DRMeter" folderinyourpreferredVSTfolder(forexample:C:\Programs\Steinberg\VST).Nowthepluginis readytobeusedthenexttimeyoustartyourhostapplication.IMPORTANT:Pleasecopythe entire"DRMeter"folderintoyourVSTfolder,andnotjustthedllfile! Logos TheDRlogos(DR_logo.zip)canbefoundwiththespecifications(DR_Logo_Guide.pdf)inthe folderentitled"TTDynamicRange"(C:\Programs\Algorithmix\TTDynamicRange). Generaluseandlimitationsofplugins PluginformatsregardlessofwhethertheyareVST,RTAS,orAUarenotfullysuitedfor graphicrepresentationandarebuiltonaseriesofcompromises.EachDAWandeachplugin interfaceputsaudiocalculationonahigherlevelprioritythangraphicrepresentation,whichis understandable.Thisiswhytrulyprofessionalmetersareeitherhardwaredevices,native runningsoftwarewhichusestheCPUresourcesdirectly,orhostintegratedsolutions.Theseall allowforaccesstographicandmeasurementinformationinawaywhichalsomakesitpossible tocontrolameter'ssocalledballistics. Inaddition,pluginscannotsavevaluesandcreatehistograms,whichweneedforobtainingour objectives.

24February2009

ThisiswhytheTTDROfflineMeterservestomeasurethe"official"DRvalueswiththe advantageofbeingabletomeasureanalbumwithinafewseconds.TherealtimepluginTT DynamicRangeMeterhowever,providesaccuratenumericalvaluesasaTRUEPEAKmeterand servesasaguidefortheavailabledynamicrangeandtheapproximateDRValuethatyou shouldexpect.Forthis,theplugincanbeusedtoloudpassagesofsongs.Thetimingofthe meteringcanvary,dependingsystemlatencyandthemodeofoperationofthehost application. Wehavetestedandoptimizedthemeterpluginonanumberofdifferenthostapplications. Despitesystemdependentlimitations,wehaveobtainedverygoodgraphicresultsinmost cases. Ourgoal Outclearlydefinedgoalistodiscoverandcategorizeovercompressionandtopreventovers withgoodtruepeakmetering.Inordertoachievethisgoal,wehaveconductedextensive experimentationandhavedecidedtoobtainthe"official"DRValuefromtheTTDROffline Meter.Arealtimemeasurementwouldhavecertainlytaxedthepatienceofusersin determiningtheofficialandcorrectDRvalue. MeasuringwiththeTTDROfflineMeter InordertodeterminetheofficialDRvalue,asongorentire album(16bit,44.1kHzwaveformat)isscanned.A histogram(loudnessdistributiondiagram)iscreatedwitha resolutionof0.01dB.TheRMSanestablishedloudness measurementstandardisdeterminedbygathering approximately10,000piecesofloudnessinformationwithin atimespanof3seconds(dB/RMS).Fromthisresult,only theloudest20%isusedfordeterminingtheaverage loudnessoftheloudpassages. Atthesametime,theloudestpeakisdetermined. TheDRValueisthedifferencebetweenthepeakandthetop 20averageRMSmeasurements(top20RMSminusPeak= DR). Thetop20RMSvalueisnotdisplayedseparately.Itcanbe easilycalculatedintheheadbyaddingthedisplayedstereo (plusdecimalplace)DYNAMICRANGEvaluewiththepeak headroom. Tomakethisclear,thefollowingisanexampleofthe measurementprocess.

4.

3. 2. 1.

Intheaboveillustration,youcanseethesong"BackontheBlock"byQuincyJones. 1) TheRMSvalueisthestandardaveragevalueindBFSmeasuredovertheentiresong. "FS"standsforfullscale. 2) ThePEAKvalueisthehighestmeasuredpeakvalueindBFS.Becausethisisatruepeak measurement,valuesabove0dBFSareshownas"overs."Westronglyrecommend keepingaheadroomof0.3dBandavoidingreleaseswith"over"peakvalues.According tothelatesttechnicalinformationavailable,suchrecordingscouldbelabelleddefective. Theprecisebasisofmeasurementandtheexplanationwillbedescribedunder"True PeakDisplay"andWhy0.3dBheadroom?below. 3) TheDYNAMICRANGEstereovalue(includingdecimalplaces)showsthetop20RMS value,minuspeakheadroom(thetop20RMSvalueisDR+Peak). 4) TheofficialDRvalueisaroundedoffwholenumbervalueofbothstereochannels. PleaseonlyusethisvalueastheofficialDRValue! Correctmeasurementandlabelingofrecordings Afundamentalpartoftheconceptisbeingabletoreproducethemeasurement.Herethereare twofactorstoobserve: 1) Pleasemeasuretheentirerecording(whenthepeakheadroomoftheindividualsongs doesntvarymorethanplus/minus0,3dB.Readmoreaboutthisunterexceptions). Resultsmayvaryornotbe100%reproduciblewhenyoumeasureeachsongseparately andthencalculateavalueonyourown.Ifyoudonothaveacompletewavefileofthe entirerecording,youwillfindtipsforcreatingyourownfiles,makingiteasytoperform ameasurement. 2) Therealtimepluginisonlymeanttobeusedasorientation,NOTfordeterminingthe officialDRValue.FordeterminingofficialDRValues,useonlytheTTDROfflineMeter picturedabove. Westronglyrecommendkeepingwithinapeakheadroomof0.3dB!Foranexplanationwhy, pleasereadthesection"TruePeakDisplayandWhy0.3dBheadroom?.

 DRValuecalculationexamplesusingtheTTDROfflineMeter Thesong"WhyDoYouLoveMe"fromtheGarbagealbum "BleedLikeMe"(2005)hasanaverageRMSloudnessof5.1dB onbothstereochannels. Standardpeakmetersshowapeakheadroomof0dB.Byusing "TruePeak"technology,overscanclearlyberecognized, makingareleasestronglyunadvisable. Thetop20loudnessmeasurementsareveryeasytocalculate, sincethereisnoheadroom:3.3+0=3.3fortheleftchannel and3.2+0=3.2fortherightchannel.Theroundedoffvalue resultsinanofficialDRvalueof3. Forthis,wewillgiveitthelabel"unfitforconsumption." Toobad! Herewehavemeasuredthesong"TheBoyisMine"from Brandy(NeverSayNever1998). TheaverageRMSvalueofthewholesongis9.1fortheleft channeland8.7fortherightchannel. Thepeakvaluescanbeclearlyseenasovers.Distortionis guaranteedhere:

AReleaseofsuchamasterisstronglyinadvisable,accordingtowhatweknowtoday. Becauseofthelackofheadroom,theDRvalueisthesameasthetop20value. TherecordinghasaDRof7(DR7). Thesong"Landscape"byjazzguitaristChristophOedingisa naturalsoundingsongwithhardlyanycompression,madewith acousticinstruments. Youcanseeherethatthetop20RMSvaluehereis16.91dBfor theleftchanneland17.95fortherightone. Oncewesubtractthepeakheadroom,weobtainaDRValueof 13.Ifthissonghadbeennormalizedto0.3dBheadroom,the DRValuewouldbethesame. TheillustrationontherightisthemeasurementofNorahJones' hit"Don'tKnowWhy"fromtheyear2002. Mostadvancedusersknowthatvocalsareparticularlythick,and thereforeloud.Ifyoulookatawaveforminyourmastering applicationfromaloud,shortpassagewherethevocalsarevery intensive,valuesofupto6dB/RMScanoccur,whereasthe wholesongmighthaveavalueof13dB/RMS.Becausethe refrainasopposedtomostpopularstylesdoesnothavea homogenousloudnessupswing,therealtimeplugindoesnot alwaysdisplaythesamevalues.Inthiscase,theTTDynamic RangeMeterpluginshowsvaryingvaluesthatmaybebrieflytoo highortoolow.Bewareofdifferencesbetweenthepluginand theofflinemeterwithvocals,acousticinstruments,andsimilar musicstyles.

DR9ishoweverarepresentativevalue.Theproducershavefoundamarketoriented compromisebetweenloudness,peakheadroom,andcompression.ForapostDRrelease, valuesbetweenDR12andDR14arehowevermoredesirable. DR9showsthatasongwithDR9doesnotsoundquieterontheradiothanatitlehavingDR3to DR8.Ordidyoumissthissongontheradio? MeasuringDRValuesofrecordings WiththeLOADbutton,awindowopensforselectingthewave filetobemeasured. Afterdoubleclicking,theactualmeasurementprocessbegins, shownbythegreenprogressbar. TheCANCELbuttonstopstheprocess,incasetheincorrectfile hadbeenchosen,forexample. IfyouworkwithSteinberg'sWaveLab,itiseasiesttochoosethe filefromthefinal16bitMontage.Thiswavefilecontainsthe entirealbum. IfyouareusedtowritingthemasterdirectlyfromtheMontage (consistingofsinglesongs),thenitisagoodideatocreatea single,continuouswavefilefortheentirealbum.Youcando thisbyrenderingyourfinalMontagedirectlyfromthemaster dialogandautomaticallycreatinga16bitmontage.Thisonly lastsafewminutesandincludesallsingletracksintoonesingle file. PicturedhereistheRenderdialogbox inWaveLabwiththenecessary settingsformakingacontinuouswave filefromsingletracksintheMontage.

Nearlyeverymasteringapplicationhastheabilitytomakeasocalledimageortoreadfroma CD.Forlegallicensingreasons,theTTDROfflineMeterdoesnothavethedriversupportfor readingaCDfromaCDdrive,butthisfeatureisusefulformeasuringCDsthathavealready beenburnedorduplicated. UsingWaveLabasanexample: PlaceaCDyouwishtomeasureintotheCDdriveofyourcomputer. Openthe"ImportDialog"inWaveLab(CommandI). Thefunction"ConverttoCDImage"/Cue sheet"createsacontinuouswavefilewith theappropriateCDmarkers.Makesure thattheprocessissetforthe16bit/44.1kHz format. UsethiscontinuouswavefileforcalculatingtheofficialDRValue. Whyarethetop20RMSvaluesusedfordeterminingtheDRValue? Amasteringengineercomparesloudpassagesofasongand,alongwithspectraladjustments andvarioussonicenhancements,ensuresthatthereisanevenloudnessovertheentire recording.Thisonlyworkswhentheloudpassagesareusedasabasisforcomparison.Asong havingaquiet,longintroductionandafinalrefraincompresseddowntoDR2mighthaveaRMS valueofDR10orDR12.TheDRValuewouldthereforenotreflecttheamountofloudnessinthe passageswhereloudnessiscritical. TheDRValuethereforerepresentstheamountofdensity/thickness(loudness)morethanthe dynamicrangeoftheentiresong!

IstheremusicwhichisnotsuitablefortheDRsystem?[Exceptions!] Yesandno.Generally,theDRmeasurementindicatesthedegreeofdensity(insenseof compression)foreverymusicstyle. Sincethemeasurementdoesnottakepsychoacousticelementsintoconsideration,very dynamicmusic(suchasclassicalmusic)islesssuitableforDRscaling.Thelargedynamicrange ofaclassicalmusicalbumwhichhaslittleornocompressionis(withperhapsDR14)not representedinapsychoacousticperceptedrelationtoaDR10popmusicsong,forexample. Thisequivalencewouldonlybepossibleifpsychoacousticparameterswereincorporated whichwouldnecessitatelongandcostlyresearchanddevelopment. Weseethissituationonapragmaticlevel:TheproblemthatwewillsolvewithDRmeteringis exorbitantovercompressionofcurrentmiddleoftheroad,popandrockmusicreleases.The goalistoindicatedensity(inotherwords,thelossofdynamics)inwholenumbervalues.Thisis whywehaveoptimizedthemeasurementofthis"problemgroup."Labelingandcategorizing classicalmusicisnottheprimaryobjectiveofthisinitiative.Dependingonthemeansavailable tous,wewillhoweverexpandourresearchactivitiesinordertofurtheroptimizetheprocess. Measurementdifferencesbetweenreleaseswithtitleswithdifferentpeakheadroom [Exceptions!] Fortechnicalreasons,inthecurrentversion1.1,thehighestpeakvalueoftheentirerecording isdeterminedandthensubtractedfromthetop20RMSvaluesinordertocalculatetheDR value. Today'salbumsintheMOR/Pop/Rockstylesusuallyhavealowpeakheadroomthatremains constant.Thisisnotasignificantfactor.However,ifsomeofthesongsonthealbumhavea higherpeakheadroomandatleastoneofthesongsaverylowpeakheadroom,thenthelow valuewillbeusedinthecalculationinvolvingthesubtractionofthetop20RMSvaluesfrom peakheadroom.ThiscanoccurinthecaseofcompilationsandleadtotoohighDRValues. OnlyinthiscasetheDRValueistobecalculatedonasongbysongbasisandnotoverthe wholealbuminordertohaveafairandmeaningfulDRlabel. Proceedasfollows:

1.)MeasureeachsongindividuallywiththeTTDROfflinemeterandnotetheDRValuesfor LeftandRightinalist: DynamicRange Song1: Song2: Song3: Song4: etc. 2.)AddLandRforeachsong Song1: Song2: Song3: Song4: etc. 3.)Addallresults 23.5+25.4+22.1+16=87 4.)Dividetheresultsbytwoandbythenumberofsongs(4) 87/2=43.5 5.)Roundofftheresults(Valuesof.500ormore:roundup;valuesupto.499rounddown) YourDRValueisDR11 43.5/4=10.875 11.2+12.3=23.5 12.6+12.8=25.4 10.9+11.2=22.1 8.1+7.9=16 Left 11.2 12.6 10.9 8.1 Right 12.3 12.8 11.2 7.9

TTDynamicRangeMeterPlugin(VST) Opentheplugininyourhostapplicationinthelastslotofthemasterbus,aftertheoutput fader.ThisvariesfromDAWtoDAW.Ifyouarenotsure,pleasecheckinthemanualofthe softwareorsettheoutputfadersto0dB. Hereyoucanseetheshockingresultswhen"Garbage"isplayed. ThisisNOThowthingsshouldlook. 1.)Stereocorrelationmeter:Displayofthephasedifferences

betweentheleftandrightstereochannels.Forinformationon interpretingthis,pleaserefertotechnicalliterature.

2.)TruePeakDisplaywithonedecimalpointandthecorresponding
peaklevelbarontheouterside.Intheareaclosetofullscale,peak measurementisparticularlycomplexandcritical.Firstofall,fixed pointresolutioncanonlyshowvaluesuptofullscale,sinceonthe digitallevel,nooversarepossible.However,contiguousfullscale wordscreateaudibleoversandsocalledinterleavedsampleovers*. Secondly,floatingpointcalculationmakesitpossibletorepresent valueswellover0dB.Themeasurementanddisplayofpeakvaluesin 4xoversampling**leadstoadisplayofoverssofrequentlythatwe havefoundamiddleoftheroadsolution.Thepeakvaluesare measured"normally"andprovidednumerically.Inthecasethattwo contiguousbitwordsshowfullscale(all16bitsat1withoutany oversampling)andatthesametimeavalueofover0dBisdetected viaoversamplingmetering(runasaparallelprocess),thenthepeak displayshows"OVER." PeakBar:Thedisplayarearangesfrom48to0dB. Apeakholdfunctionwithaslowreleasetime(ballistics)makesit easytoreadandfollowthevaluesvisually. (*4xoversampling=Quadruplingofthesamplingrate). (**InterleavedSampleOvers(also:intersamplepeaks)areovers whichcanbedetectedonlyaftermultiplyingthesamplingrate(over samplingbyafactorof2to4).Thevaluesarenotdetectedonthe digitallevelbecausevaluesonlyupto0dBcanberepresented (fixpoint).Aninterleavedsampleovercanalsooccurwhenthepeak headroomis0.1dBormoreandcreatesdistortiononlyafterleaving thedigitaldomain. Stoppingandrestartingplaybackalsoresultsinanresettingofthe numericalpeakdisplay,inthesamewaythatclickingtheRESET buttondoes. Thenumericaldisplayshowsthehighestvaluereachedsincethelast reset.

 Attherightyoucanseea"good"digitalsignal whichwillnotcreatedistortionwhengoing throughaD/Aconverter: Thereisonlyonesamplewhichapproachesfull scaleandthehighestpeakvaluedoesnotexceed 0.3dB. Distortiononadigitallevelisnotpossible. Ontheleft,severaldozensamplesinaroware fullscale.TheD/Aconverter,havingthejobof turningthedigitalstepsintoroundanalog waveforms,needsabout6dBheadroom,in ordertoallowthewaveformtoswingupwards initsfull,normalrange.Butthisheadroomis notavailable.Theresultisundesirable distortion.Withdatacompression(MP3,etc.), another6dBcanbeaddedtothepeaksasa resultofenergyredistribution,dependingon theresolutionused.Theresultsarenot acceptable. Despiteheadroomuseabrickwalllimiter Pleasealwaysuseaprofessionalbrickwalllimiterformastering.Therearemanygoodbrickwall limitersonthemarket,butalsomanylessgoodones,whichdon'tdeliverwhattheypromise. Bewaryandverifyyourbrickwalllimiter. Abrickwalllimiter'sjobistomakesurethatnointerleavedsampleoversareproduced,using theoversamplingprocessdescribedabove.Abrickwalllimitershouldprocessthesoundinsuch awaythattheactuallevelreductionisinaudible. Why0,3dBHeadroom? Inordertopreventanydiscussionsamongexperts:Yes,thisheadroomvalueof0,3dBis somewhatarbitrary.Itcouldjustaswellbe0.253dB,0.378dB,or0.5dBheadroom.

Despiteusingagoodbrickwalllimiter,therearetworeasonsforleavingsomeheadroom: 1. ModernD/AconvertersuselinearphaseFIRreconstructionfilterswhicharenotalways designedtoprocessfullscalesignalswithoutdistortion.Thisisparticularlytrueofsteep slopingsignalswhichareoftenproducedbyhardlimitingorovercompressedmusic. Extraheadroomsignificantlyreducesthisriskwhilemakinganylossofloudnesstobe practicallyimperceptible(seeGibbsphenomenon). 2. Additionalheadroomreducesartifactsusedbyalldatacompressionformatswhichuse themaskingeffect.Thelowerthedatarateofthetargetformat,themoreheadroomis necessary.Forhighlycompressedmusic,0.3dBheadroomisnotsufficientinorderto avoiddistortion.Inthiscase,aheadroomof5dBwouldbetheoreticallynecessary. RecordingswhichhavetheDRlogoarefortunatelynotsostronglycompressed;a headroomof0.3dBpreventsunwantedartifactsinmostcases! FurtherdescriptionoftheTTDynamicRangeMeter:
3.) NumericalDYNAMICRANGEDisplay:
Inlinkmode,theleftrightDRValueisshowntoonedecimalplace.Usingthemeter ontheloudestpassagesproducesvalueswhichareveryclosetothoseoftheOffline Meter.Ifthe"Link"buttonisdeactivated,thentwoseparateDRbarsareshownwith correspondingnumericaldisplaysabovethebars(seethefirstillustrationoftheTT DynamicRangeMeterPlugin).Thismodeisappropriateforthemixingprocessin ordertohaveseparate,detailedinformationconcerningtheinnerdynamicsofthe twostereochannels.

4.) DRDisplayBar:Colorcodeddisplayofthedynamicrangewhichisused.
ValuesoflessthanDR8aredisplayedwiththecolorred.ValuesofDR14ormoreare green.Valuesbetweenthetwoaredisplayedinvariousshadesofyellow. TheDRbarshowstheaveragedifferencebetweenpeakandRMSandcorrespondsto thesocalledcrestfactor. Sincethebarsdonotdisplayanystaticinformationinordertoindicatethetop20 RMSvalues,inspecificsituationstheindicationsdonotalwayscompletelyreflectthe officialvaluesgivenbytheOfflineMeter.Keepinmindthattheobjectiveisto standardizethe"thickness"ofarecordingandnottomeasuretheoveralldynamics. Thevariationbetweenthetwomeasurementdevicesincreasesasthedynamicrange ofthematerialmeasuredisincreased.Thebarsservetovisualizethecrestfactor. Ifyouworkwithmoreheadroomduringmixing,adecreasingbarthatmoves downwardswillwarnyouoftoomuchcompression,becausethedisplayofthecrest factorisindependentonthepeakroomwhichisused.

5.)Digital0Display
The"minusinfinity"displaylightsupassoasthereisdigital0atthe input.

6.)NumericalRMSDisplay:Thedisplayshowsthecurrentaverage
8.) 7.)
loudnessveryslowly,makingitverypracticalforhavinganideaof theamountofcurrentloudness.

RMSDisplayBars:(wideinteriorbars) WedecidedtousethestandardcalculationofloudnessinRMS(rootmeansquare)becauseit provedtobesuperiortomostothermeasuringmethodswithcomplexfrequencyweighting modelswhenputthroughcomparativetesting.Thosemethodswhichwerebetterrequireda greatdealofCPUresourcesandareverycontroversialamongspecialists.Theideabehindthe DRMeterisasimplifiedwayofdeterminingthicknessandNOTapsychoacousticallyperfect loudnessmeasurementtool.TheRMSvalueiscorrectedby+3dBsothatsinewaveshavethe samepeakandRMSvalue.Thisisthecasewithmostmeters. 7.)MonoSwitch:Thisswitchesthestereosignaltomonoforcheckingthesignalandturnsred whenactivated.Thisswitchcanbeusedasamonoswitchforcheckingstereocompatibility whentheDRMeterinsertedintothestereosectionofyourDAW.Themonoswitchisa practicaltool,sincemanyDAWsnolongerhaveone. 8.)ResetSwitch:Resetsthenumericalpeakheadroomdisplay. Supportforotherformatsandplatforms WehavealreadybegunworkonanRTASversionofthepluginforMacOSandPCaswellasan AUversionforMacOS.AMacOSversionoftheTTDROfflineMeterisalsoplannedthank youforyourpatience!OntheWebsitewww.PleasurizeMusic.comyoucanlearnaboutthe latestreleases.

Updates Pleasealwaysusethelatestversionofthesoftware. Futureoptimizationofthemeasurementprocedurecouldleadtoslightlydifferentresults. Infutureversions,thefollowingadditionalfeaturesareplanned: Plugin: numericpeakdisplaywithinterpolatedvalueindicationinthezoneabove0dB. InterpolationcanuncoverpotentialoversoccurringinlaterD/Aconversioninplayback devicesresultinginpeakvalueswhicharetoohigh(interleavedsampleovers).The implementationinvolvessignificantresearchanddevelopmentefforts. implementationofBobKatz'KSystem.ParticularlytheK12andK14areverywell suitedforachievingmoredynamicmixes. surroundversion Software: DirectreadinginfromDVD/CDdrives Thisrequiresobtaininglicensesandthepaymentoflicensefeesfordriversfromthird partymanufacturers. Donation UndertheheadingDonation/Spendeyoucanhelpsupportourwork.ThePleasurizeMusic Foundationisanonprofitorganizationaimedatestablishingadynamicsoundstandardanda surroundsoundqualitylabel,inordertogenerallyraisethequalityofrecordedmusicand therebytohelprevitalizethemusicindustry. Credits DRideaandoverallconceptandrealization:FriedemannTischmeyer Technicalconceptandprojectmanagement:Dr.ChristophMusialikfromAlgorithmix Programming:Dr.UlrichHatjefromAlgorithmix Supportsupport@PleasurizeMuic.com C2009byPleasurizeMusicFoundation c/oTischmeyerPublishingAmericaInc. 2400ChanticleerAve.SuiteD2SantaCruzCA95062USA www.PleasurizeMusic.com