Audio levels & loudness: the cheat sheet
Measure loudness, not just peaks
Platforms normalize by loudness (LUFS), not by peak level. A mix that is too loud gets turned down — and loses punch. In Premiere: Export → Effects → Loudness Normalization → ITU BS.1770-3, set the target from the table below and the true peak to -1 dBTP. Check the result with the Loudness Radar (Effects → Special → Loudness Radar) on the master.
Targets (integrated loudness)
| Destination | Target | True peak |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube, Spotify, most streaming | -14 LUFS | -1 dBTP |
| Instagram, TikTok, Facebook (common practice) | -14 LUFS | -1 dBTP |
| Apple Music / podcasts on Apple | -16 LUFS | -1 dBTP |
| European TV (EBU R128) | -23 LUFS | -1 dBTP |
| US TV (ATSC A/85) | -24 LKFS | -2 dBTP |
| Wedding film delivered as a file | -14 to -16 LUFS | -1 dBTP |
A clean dialogue chain (in this order)
- Noise reduction — gently (Premiere: Essential Sound → Dialogue → Reduce Noise, or DeNoise).
- High-pass filter ~80 Hz — removes rumble and handling noise.
- EQ — small cut around 200–400 Hz if muddy; small lift around 3–5 kHz for clarity.
- Compressor — ratio 3:1, a few dB of gain reduction on loud words.
- Limiter at -1 dBTP on the master.
Music under speech
Duck music about 12–18 dB under dialogue (Essential Sound → Music → Ducking, or keyframes). Let it come back up between sentences — it keeps the film breathing.
Sync tips
- Record a sharp sound at the start of every take/session (clap, slate pop) — syncing by sound becomes trivial.
- Long external recordings drift a few milliseconds per hour; DAEDAL Sync corrects that automatically.