Hi there,

Anyone know a good way / plugin to meter loudness in FCPX compliant with R128 LUFS?

Cheers

Hi Damian,

There are many ways you can measure R128 LUFS in FCP X and deliver compliant content.

If you want to get really fancy there is this (expensive) LM6 plugin from Tcelectronic that will measure Loudness History, Momentary Loudness, True-peak Level, Program Loudness and Loudness Range (LRA) in a single view:
www.tcelectronic.com/lm6-plug-in/

But things don't always need to cost an arm and a leg.

- The Ebuloudness AU plugin from Toneboosters (29$) will give you accurate R128 metering right inside FCP X:
www.toneboosters.com/tb-ebuloudness/

- Loudness Change from Videotoolshed (30$) is a standalone app that will analyze your audio file and export a mix with the volume set to the desired LUFS. If the app detects severe errors it will give you a report that allows you to do manual corrections: www.videotoolshed.com/product/68/loudnesschange

- And if you only need to export R128 compliant audio on an occasional basis, you can have it done online for a few bucks per program: auphonic.com


- Ronny

Try Waves WLM. It's on sale at the moment too.

Guys will these solutions work for LKFS? Are they the same thing?

I'm actually quite sure they are. The K-System (LKFS) measures Loudness as does the Loudness Unit (LUFS) both in a full scale environment. The Loudness Unit I believe was adopted from the K-System.

So far I haven't been able to tell them apart, but perhaps someone else can and could enlighten us both.

No worries as LUFS and LKFS are the same.


This may be pf interest to some:

www.fcp.co/fcp-forum/4-final-cut-pro-x-f...-act-compliant-files

Yeah that's what I thought

For my broadcast work I use PPMulatorXL which floats over the top of any app running on the Mac (including FCPX)
I position the vertical R128 meters to sit over FCPXs own meters to the right of the timeline.

The software is fed audio via an old Griffin iMic, which in turn is fed from the audio output of the edit suite via a spare mixer output. The iMic plugs back into the Mac, but the signal isn't used in the Audio preference, so there's no internal feedback problems. The same could be achieved with almost any audio interface. As long as you aren't interfering with the main system output, because that's what FCPX uses to output audio. So long as you can calibrate you system to your local standard then you'll be fine.

It is possible to fudge a software workaround using Soundflower and creating multiple audio paths inside the mac, but I find the iMic solution to be really reliable, plug and play.

When I play export ProRes masters back in Quicktime, PPMulator indicates their levels correctly too, as it works for any sound playing on the Mac.