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Term 1 Theory Prep > Metering > Flashcards

Metering Flashcards

1
Q

What do VU meters indicate?

What unit(s) of measurement do they use?

Are they fast or slow?

A

Slow, showing the RMS levels not the peak

uses the decibel scale but also has a second scale indicated in percentage of volume.

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2
Q

What does the “VU” stand for in VU meter?

A

Volume unit

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3
Q

What is the range of the dB scale in a VU meter?

A

Range: -20 dB VU to +3 dB VU

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4
Q

How long does it take for a needle to reach 0 VU from -20 VU?

A

300 ms +/- 10%

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5
Q

What is the standard overshoot on a VU meter?

A

1 - 1.5%

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6
Q

What does the LED light indicate on a VU meter?

A

it’s a peak light, that light up when a predetermined transient level is detected (usually about 6-12 dB above the actual instrument)

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7
Q

What type of meter is this?

A

BBC PPM meter

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8
Q

In a PPM (BBC) meter, what does each mark represent?

A

each of the markings (1-7) represent a 4 dB change

with the exception of 0-1 which is a 6dB change

and 7-8, which is a 2dB change

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9
Q

In a PPM meter, which marking corresponds to 0dBu?

A

Mark 4

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10
Q

What does a Digital Peak Meter (DPM) display?

A

absolute maximum signal of the raw samples in the PCM signal for a given time

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11
Q

What is the scale range of a DIN meter?

A

from - 50 dB to +50 dB

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12
Q

In a DIN meter, what is the value of the 0 dB marking in dBu and in Volts RMS?

A

+6 dBu which is 1.55 Volts RMS

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13
Q

In a DIN meter, where is the marking for the test level?

A

-9 dB

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14
Q

In both Nordic and DIN PPM meters, where is full modulation on the meter and how many volts is “full modulation’?

A

Full modulation is at the edge of the red area

1.55 V RMS

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15
Q

How many volts is the 0dB (test marking) on a Nordic PPM meter?

A

0.775 Volts RMS

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16
Q

How are DPMs calibrated?

A

to 0dBFS or the max level that can be represented digitally in a given system

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17
Q

What is a True-Peak Meter?

A

A digital peak meter with additional data pre-processing.

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18
Q

How is the audio signal different in a True-Peak meter compared to a DPM?

A

TPM audio signal is up-sampled, usually by a factor of 4, to take intersample peaks into account.

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19
Q

What scale and unit of measurement do true-peak meters use?

A

dBTP (decibels relative to full scale, measured as a true-peak value instead of dBFS.

dBTP and dBFS are identical except that dBTP may be larger than zero (full-scale) to indicate peaks.

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20
Q

To comply with EBU R128, how loud should your normalised content be? What is the permitted deviation fromt eh target level?

A

Target Level: -23.0 LUFS

permitted deviation shall generally not exceed ±1.0 LU

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21
Q

What do LU and LUFS stand for?

Which broadcasting body uses these as standard measuring units?

A

Loudness Unit

Loudness Unit, referenced to Full Scale

EBU R128 (European Broadcasting Union)

22
Q

What is the EBU R 128?

A

The European Broadcasting Union guideline for loudness normalization and permitted maximum level of audio signals, most recently revised in 2014.

23
Q

What are intersample peaks?

A

created as part of the digital to analogue conversion where the reconstruction of a sound wave exceeds 0dBFS to the true peak of the sound occurs between digital samples and thus gets “squared off”, creating distortion

even if not clipping in the digital domain, can cause distortion when converted back to analogue

24
Q

What does PPM stand for?

A

Peak Program Meter

25
Q

What meter is the most useful for the mastering process?

A

The Dorrough Loudness Meter

26
Q

What does the Dorrough Loudness Meter display?

What is it’s response time like?

A

diplays both average and peak elvels in a single readout with a very fast response time to accurately reflect incoming transients

27
Q

A “EBU Mode” meter offers which two scales, for the user to select?

A

EBU +9 scale and EBU +18 scale

28
Q

What is the range of EBU +9 scale?

A

-18.0 LU to +9.0 LU (-41.0 LUFS to -14.0 LUFS)

29
Q

What is the range of the EBU +18 scale?

A

-36.0 LU to +18.0 LU (-59.0 LUFS to -5.0 LUFS)

30
Q

What is a VU meter?

A

is a device displaying a representation of the signal level in audio equipment

31
Q

What are ballistics in metering?

A

how fast the meter responds to the sound it’s measuring

32
Q

What is a goniometer/lissajous meter?

A

a meter that plots the signal on a 2D area using lissajous figures to show the correlation of audio information between the two axes (audio channels, or phases) becomes apparent

33
Q

What type of meter is this?

A

bar VU meter

34
Q

benefits of VU meters?

A

slow response that behaves similarly to human hearing

35
Q

recommended reference for VU meter?

A

-18 dBFS

36
Q

What is crest factor?

A

Crest factor is teh ratio of the difference between peak level and RMS of a waveform.

37
Q

What is a real-time analyzer (RTA) / spectrum analyser?

A

measures and displays the frequency spectrum of an audio signal (input) in real time using the magnitude of an input signal vs. the frequency.

38
Q

what is a vector scope?

A

used to measure the difference between channels of stereo audio signals displayed on an X-Y plot. One channel drives the horizontal deflection of the display while the other drives the vertical. Reveals the relationship between the two signals.

39
Q

what is an oscilloscope?

A

produces a two dimentional plot of one or more signals as a function of time.

should be calibrated for both time and level

40
Q

true peak

A

oversampling x 4

41
Q

DEF: LUFS

A

Loudness Unit Reference to Full Scale

measurement unit instroducted as part of the EBU R128 Standard

42
Q

DEF: Momentary Loudness (M)

A

Uses an RMS window of 400 miliseconds, therefore it shows quick fluctuations in loudness

43
Q

DEF: Short Term Loudness (S)

A

Uses an RMS window of 3 seconds and provides more stable loudness measurements

44
Q

DEF: Integrated Loudness (I)

A

Shows overall loudness, and is affected by the whole track from beginning of playback until you reset it by clicking the value field

45
Q

DEF: Loudness Range Meter (LR)

A

shows the input loudness range. The loudness meter, LU, follows the ITU-R BS 1770-1 and EBU 3342 specs so the LU represents -23 dbFS.

46
Q

What is LU?

A

Loudness units

47
Q

What is the Maximum Permitted True Peak Level of a programme during production?

A

Must not exceed -1 dBTP

48
Q

What scale do true peak meters use?

A

dBTP

decibels relative to full scale, measured as true-peak value instead of dBFS.

May be larger than 0 full scale to indicate peaks.

49
Q

What is a K-System meter?

A

has a peak meter and an RMS meter for each stereo channel.

RMS measures average signal strength. Which is the focus rather than peak meter, which is primarily used to detect clipping.

Both peak and RMS meters

50
Q

What are the three scales used in the K-System?

What is their purpose?

A

K12, K14, K20

each provides different amound of head room above 0dB

Term 1 Theory Prep (11 decks)

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