Loudness Penalty Plugin - anyone using it - opinions?

[Sal Sorice]

I'm going to (finally) start uploading my music. Using Distrokid. Going to start with Classical Piano pieces that I've recorded over the years.

The Classical Piano pieces were recorded by a professional engineer (onsite at my home, on my Steinway Model B grand). He also mastered them and I had CDs made.

I am planning to upload the WAV files to Distrokid but, as a complete newbie to all of this, want to be sure the loudness levels are good (and appropriate for classical music, given the inherent dynamic range).

I tested a few of the WAVs at https://www.loudnesspenalty.com/ 
Some are good and others look like they'll get turned up by some (like Apple Music).
But other sites (like YouTube, Amazon), don't seem to turn anything up - only down, so it seems like some pieces will be really quiet on some outlets.

Example (note - the ones with -- above the name (like YouTube) don't turn up, only down):

The folks behind the site also have a dedicated plugin that seems like it would be more convenient to use: https://www.meterplugs.com/loudness-penalty

Questions:
> Has anyone used the plugin. If so, opinions?

> Any other plugins, etc. that you think might be as good / better to get this kind of information / insight?

Thanks!

[Old Joad]

It works great, and didn't turn the volume down on my song.

 

[Sal Sorice]

@Old Joad - song sounds great! Did you use the plugin, or just test your song using their website tool?

Also - how did you achieve the synced lyrics? Are you using Distrokid or another service?

[Old Joad]

Thanks, it's a live jam, and I just used the loudness website, and I'm only on YOUTUBE at the moment.

but it's all relative. it's just so your song is just as loud as the next song on Distrokid.

Post the song when you get it up and running so we can have a listen🍺

[Old Joad]

On 9/30/2024 at 8:57 AM, Sal Sorice said:

@Old Joad  how did you achieve the synced lyrics? 

I used windows 7 movie maker.😎 here is a video on how to download movie maker on windows 11.

 

Edited October 2 by Old Joad

[bitflipper]

My experience with this tool...

At first I couldn't get it to work. It told me my sample rate was unsupported. It was a 48KHz wave file. So I then uploaded an MP3 of the same project, and curiously got the same message.

Then I re-read the message and saw that it actually said "Oops, your system's audio sample rate is not supported. Please set your system's audio sample rate to 44.1 or 48 kHz and refresh the page." It wasn't complaining about the file's sample rate, but my system sample rate. Somehow my system audio had been set to 96KHz/16-bit. I changed it to 48KHz/24-bit and then the analyzer was happy. First time any software has cared about my system sample rate. Indeed, it's the first time I have cared what it was.

I chose a file that I'd been pretty happy with, dynamics- and volume-wise. iZotope Insight told me it was ~-16dB LUFS. Here's what Loudness Penalty Analyzer told me. The first is for the wave version, the second is for the MP3 version.

 

Yes, MP3s can peak higher than the source file by as much as 6dB in theory and about 3dB in practice.

But I have to wonder, is it saying that these streaming services treat the two formats differently, or that the tool is analyzing them differently? 

[pwallie]

1 hour ago, bitflipper said:

I have to wonder, is it saying that these streaming services treat the two formats differently, or that the tool is analyzing them differently? 

Both I reckon

[Sal Sorice]

Thanks for all the input! I'm using the web version to test the WAV files from 2 Classical Piano CDs I recorded (in 2010 and 2014). Not sure if the plugin would be any different or just more convenient. Either way, it looks like my Classical WAVs need to be turned up quite a bit to get in the ballpark of 0.00 or thereabouts.

I know Classical is way different than other genres when it comes to dynamic range. Some of my piano pieces go from a whisper to a thunder (example: Rachmaninoff - Prelude in C sharp minor Op 3 No 2) - that's just the nature of the beast.

Hoping this tool will help me get them to a respectable (and musical) level for Spotify, YouTube, etc.

[bitflipper]

I wouldn't waste my time chasing streaming standards. If Apple wants to turn you up by 13.8dB, then so be it. That won't make your recording sound better or worse. OTOH, if you turn it up yourself by 13.8dB, Apple will leave the volume alone but all the others will just turn you down.

I realize this is contrary to much of the advice you'll read regarding streaming standards, but most of that is aimed at modern pop and rock productions that want to be as loud as possible and therefore tend to be brutally compressed to gain volume at the expense of dynamics. When those guys subsequently get turned down by streaming services, they sound very dull because they sacrificed dynamics for nothing. 

 

[Sal Sorice]

16 hours ago, bitflipper said:

I wouldn't waste my time chasing streaming standards. If Apple wants to turn you up by 13.8dB, then so be it. That won't make your recording sound better or worse. OTOH, if you turn it up yourself by 13.8dB, Apple will leave the volume alone but all the others will just turn you down.

I realize this is contrary to much of the advice you'll read regarding streaming standards, but most of that is aimed at modern pop and rock productions that want to be as loud as possible and therefore tend to be brutally compressed to gain volume at the expense of dynamics. When those guys subsequently get turned down by streaming services, they sound very dull because they sacrificed dynamics for nothing. 

 

Thanks @bitflipper - appreciate the comment. I think I'm going to try and add a bit of loudness to the WAVs - the reason being that, while some services (like Apple) will turn you up, others (like YouTube) will not, so some of the pieces might be way to quiet on those platforms.

 

[projectm]

This looks like a useful tool to me and I will probably use it just to keep an eye on things. When mixing and mastering in the good old days, you just needed to listen to the speakers. Now there’s a ton of numbers to pay attention to and none of them makes sense😝 

thanks for posting about this, now I have more numbers to look at but they will probably tell me something when I need them to 😎👍