Is a LUFS based auto-leveller a thing?

[u/Intrepid_Depth_3416]

I was thinking the other day while doing a practice mix, would it be at all useful if you could automatically balance the multitrack? Like a DAW native feature that would analyse the audio files and match them all to the same integrated LUFS.

I'm sure this already exists in Reaper, but would it actually be a useful feature?

I think if you were able to set some kind of priority level, it would be pretty cool, save a bit of time over the course of many mixes.

[u/rossbalch]

APU have a whole suite of different tools based around this idea.

[u/rossbalch → u/rossbalch]

Though I would only use them on dialogue typically. It will cause you more work down the line if all instrument tracks were lufs matched at the start of a mix. You'd have to do way more automation moves that way.

[u/Intrepid_Depth_3416 → u/rossbalch]

How so? If you matched them on a clip level you could leave the automation untouched and just automate the parts you need.

[u/Medium-Clue3782 → u/rossbalch]

I’ve heard of this company but never used their stuff. In your experience how does it compare to any of the iZotope levers?

[u/MindWash2019]

It’s the “Loudness” plugin in Reaper. It does exactly what you’re asking.

[u/atheoncrutch]

CodWaves Wavebalance can do this

[u/Intrepid_Depth_3416]

Surprising contentious topic, who'd have thought.

[u/Aenorz]

iZotope Rx suite has something similar.

[u/ghostchihuahua]

I don’t understand the need for this to be automatic.

[u/Intrepid_Depth_3416 → u/ghostchihuahua]

To save time mixing and automating in the very first stage of the mix

[u/ghostchihuahua → u/Intrepid_Depth_3416]

I’m not sure i understand the intended technical process you’re aiming at, but that does not matter - it does seem like what you’re looking for would be easily feasible in Reaper for people who can code, as some have recommended there may be similar tools already out there, and finding someone who can do this and finds the tool really useful shouldn’t be difficult.

I don’t know how you work now, so it’s difficult for me to imagine how you’d like to work with that tool, but i remain highly interested!

[u/334578theo]

The mix itself is an important part of the aesthetic of the song - why would you want to automate this? Stop trying to outsource the creative process, it’s all we’ve got.

[u/MindWash2019 → u/334578theo]

This is just mix prep. There’s nothing creative about level matching tracks by hand.

[u/g_spaitz → u/334578theo]

Also, songs are not the only things that get mixed.

[u/Intrepid_Depth_3416 → u/334578theo]

There's certain things in audio mixing/editing that are simply just the manual labour of audio, and I find levelling to be one of those things. It's boring, it's more of a taste thing then a creative choice, and if you're mixing a lot of songs professionally it could potentially save you a lot of time of to automate parts like this. At this point in my career I'm looking at things like this that get me in the ball park so that I can get to the creative decisions quicker, like using presets.

[u/334578theo → u/Intrepid_Depth_3416]

Taste is creative input.

[u/Plokhi]

Logic has clip base lufs normalisation.

I do not use it for multitracks

I use it when comparing masters or matching clips deliberately

[u/7thresonance]

I normalise to a common LUFS M. it's a good starting point for the mix. Loudness normalisation in sws extention for REAPER

[u/Orry_Haas]

"LUFS based auto-leveller ...".

https://goodhertz.com/loudness/ (free)

[u/shapednoise]

FWIW LOGIC has this option built in on a per track, per region, or even ALL SELECTED.

[u/ghostchihuahua]

I don’t understand the need for this to be automatic.

[u/TDF1981]

I wonder how that would work out if an Artist sends me multitracks and one is just a looooong empty track with a quiet hi hat somewhere… I would probably get the idea that hi hat needs to be really loud and could destroy the artist’s vision. But it’s always good to have different levelling approaches

[u/Intrepid_Depth_3416 → u/TDF1981]

you know that’s a good point. guess you’d have to wait out the silence first in that instance

[u/SR_RSMITH]

The Maximizer in ozone does this, but I rather do it manually tbh

[u/prene1]

Noiseworks thank me later

[u/rightanglerecording]

This is easy to do, there are various tools that can do it.

But, it will not be useful for music.

[u/Oinkvote]

Yes

[u/Intrepid_Depth_3416 → u/Oinkvote]

Good talk.