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Loudness Metering

RM1 supports EBU R128-compliant loudness metering, giving you real-time feedback on Momentary, Short-Term, and Integrated (Range) loudness levels. This helps you maintain consistent audio quality across all content, meet broadcast standards, and avoid listener fatigue.

Loudness Meter

What is Loudness Metering​

Loudness metering measures perceived audio volume over time, following standards like EBU R128 and ITU-R BS.1770, expressed in the unit LUFS. These standards ensure consistent levels across content, platforms, and devices to avoid listener fatigue. It's especially useful in podcasting, where consistent loudness is key to professional sound and platform compliance.

In podcasting, loudness metering helps maintain a balanced and polished sound across episodes, reducing the need for manual volume adjustments by listeners. It also ensures compatibility with major platforms, which often normalize audio playback—helping your content sound as intended, everywhere it’s heard.

Configure Loudness Metering​

View Options

To enable Loudness Metering and configure its behavior:

  • Navigate to Settings Tab
  • Click View Options in the Audio Section
  • The view options modal opens
  • In Metering Mode, select Loudness (EBU R128)

Loudness Options​

Show Triangle Indicator​

Loudness Meters usually consist of a bargraph as well as a triangle indicator. Both display different metering values:

  • The Triangle displays the Momentary value by default
  • The Bargraph displays the Short Term value by default

Show Integrated Measurement Section​

Display the section for measuring a loudness range / integrated value.

The Integrated Loudness section represents an overall relative average loudness of a complete program, which can also be referred to as loudness range (LRA). You can start, stop and reset the measurement with the corresponding buttons within the section.

Invert Metering Source for Bar and Triangle​

Switch the Metering sources for bar and triangle:

  • The Triangle displays the Short Term value
  • The Bargraph displays the Momentary value

Scale Type​

Select the reference of the scale which is displayed. Available scale types are:

  • EBU +18 LU
  • EBU +9 LU
  • EBU -5 LUFS
  • EBU -14 LUFS

Positive Range / Negative Range​

Decide how much offset to the relative zero of your selected scale type is displayed as green section. Default is:

  • Positive Range: 3 LU
  • Negative Range: 3 LU

If you don't wish for a range, but want a straight zero-line, set both ranges to 0.

Use Loudness AGC to stay consistent​

Loudness AGC

In Edit tab, use the Loudness AGC (automatic gain control) to dynamically adjust digital gain of an audio signal to maintain a consistent output level, compensating for variations in input volume.

Correct usage of Loudness AGC

Loudness AGC is placed at the end of each channel’s processing chain, just before the limiter, because it adjusts the overall program loudness after all other processing is complete. This ensures consistent output levels without interfering with processing. Using it together with a peak-based AGC at the start of the chain helps control fast transients early on, reducing the dynamic range before loudness normalization, resulting in a smoother and more controlled gain structure throughout the signal path.

Loudness AGC in presets

As loudness range an structure is highly individual, depending on which standard you are following, Loudness AGC is always disabled in our default presets. If you want to use presets containing Loudness AGC, create new presets for the channels where you wish to use it.

Loudness AGC has the following parameters:

  • Velocity: Control speed in the range 0.1 LU/s to 6.0 LU/s (in steps of 0.1 dB/s).
  • Gain: Max. signal shift in the range 0 dB to 30 dB (in steps of 1 dB).
  • Level: Set output level in the range -20 LU to 20 LU (in steps of 1 LU).
  • Threshold: Freeze threshold of the Loudness AGC in the range -60 LU to 0 LU (in steps of 1 LU), for lower levels, the current or last value is recorded respectively.