What is Dynamic Range Processing?

When finalizing podcast episode audio, Dynamic Range Processing is more important than overall loudness.

Georg and Thomas from Auphonic wrote an excellent blog post explaining this thoroughly.

From their article:

If listeners find themselves using the volume up and down buttons a lot, level differences within your podcast or audio file are too big.
In this article, we are discussing why audio dynamic range processing (or leveling) is more important than loudness normalization, why it depends on factors like the listening environment and the individual character of the content, and why the loudness range descriptor (LRA) is only reliable for speech programs.

Were you aware of Dynamic Range Processing? If so, where do your final episodes end up in terms of Loudness Range (LRA)?

I use sufficient compression when mixing episodes so that the LRA ends up in a range that I like, meaning I don’t rely on any automated mastering processing (like Auphonic) to compress the audio into the desired range. *Though there’s nothing wrong with relying on Auphonic or other software to do this! 😉

My episodes usually end up in the 4.8 to 6.3 LRA loudness range, though my last few episodes came in at around 7.8 +/- (not yet sure why).

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

.