For the Love of Music: Loudness Normalization

Wild theories about level normalization "destroying sound" continue to reappear, as if decades of loudness normalization efforts have been for nothing. This article hopes to set the facts straight regarding loudness concepts, standards, and implementation. Loudness normalization not only tremendously improves the listening experience for consumers, but it is also an element in control of sound exposure and prevention of hearing loss.

NUGEN Audio intends to expand its loudness metering efforts with significant innovations. The company will preview VisLM 3, the forthcoming version of its loudness metering plug-in, at the 2024 NAB Show (Booth SU2051). VisLM has long been the go-to solution for loudness metering and its new features will further benefit loudness workflows for studios, content producers and broadcasters.

Emotion Systems, a British company specialized in file-based audio processing and analysis tools, has now addressed the critical challenge of ensuring audio consistency and quality in bulk content ingest. Its new Emotion Verification Engine (EVE) is a new approach, giving users quick and easy to interpret information on the detail of the audio components, something which is largely ignored by today’s automated quality control tools.