In fact, working with a fixed monitor gain is liberating, not limiting. Katz had this to say about using a fixed, calibrated, monitor gain:Ī good film mix engineer can work without a meter and do it all by the monitor, using the meter simply as a guide. If you’re using the K-System’s K-14 scale, this means that you essentially have 14 dBs of headroom for loud sections while the EBU calibration gives you about 18 dBs. When mixing or mastering at this level, you’ll therefore be inclined to dial back the volume and not maintain these levels for all but the loudest parts of your music or programme. This SPL is considered unpleasant or loud, comparable to an alarm clock, doorbell or saw. In fact, the K-System’s K-14 scale, where the target RMS is -14 dBFS, will produce an SPL of about 83 dB(C) per channel, which is very close to the EBU recommendation. In other words, the calibration for pop music is quieter (by 3 dB) than that for broadcast.īeing quieter, Katz’s pop music calibration encourages the use of slightly higher levels, which makes sense since pop music typically has higher levels and less dynamic range than TV programmes, for example. In comparison to our previous calibration, this means that a -18 dBFS RMS pink noise signal should produce 79 dB(C) with Katz’s system vs.
He recommends the following calibration for pop music: a -20 dBFS RMS pink noise signal calibrated to 77 dB SPL (per channel) using an SPL meter with C-weighted, slow response. In Bob Katz’s How to Make Better Recordings Part 2, he lays down the framework for the K-System and goes into detail about listening levels. And while the formula might look complicated, you can simply type it into google (after replacing with the number of channels) and it will spit out the result for you What About Mixing / Mastering for CD, Streaming, etc.? The result, 82 dB(A), indicates that playing the pink noise calibration signal through each channel, one at a time, should produce a reading of 82 dB(A) at the listening position. For a two-channel, stereo setup, this gives: In fact, the EBU gives a specific formula for the A-weighted SPL of each monitor (when the pink noise signal is played): It depends on how many monitors you have, since sound is “additive.” In general, as the number of monitors increases, the gain of each one should decrease. What is the ideal SPL reading for each monitor? The pink noise signal should have an RMS level of -18 dBFS (decibels, full-scale), and you should measure the SPL from your listening position. Then, play a pink noise signal through each of your monitors, one at a time, and adjust your monitor gain until the SPL meter gives the “correct” reading. First, you’ll need to get your hands on a sound pressure level (SPL) meter with an A-weighting setting. The approach is similar to the one used by the K-System. How does the EBU recommend that studio monitors be calibrated? These recommendations include ideal listening levels and limits on early reflection levels, reverberations, frequency response deviations and ambient noise. The European Broadcast Union (EBU) publishes specific recommendations ( EBU Tech 3276) for sound control rooms so that accurate decisions can be made with regard to programmes. Let’s see what the EBU recommends for broadcast and then follow that up with some advice from Bob Katz… Listening Levels for TV Broadcast
But is there an ideal listening level for sound studios? And how do you go about calibrating your monitors? Having a consistent, calibrated listening environment can help you make consistent mixing and mastering decisions from project to project.