TC electronic SDN BHD LM5, LM5D User Manual

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LM5 & LM5D -TDM

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TC SUPPORT INTERACTIVE

The TC Support Interactive website www.tcsupport.tc is designed as an online support and information center. At the site you can find answers to specific questions regarding TC software and hardware. All known issues are stored in a database searchable by product, category, keywords, or phrases. Under the section "My Stuff" you can login to check the status of your questions, download materials such as product manuals, software updates and new presets. This site has been specifically designed to meet the needs of our users. We constantly update the database and you will find the site to be a huge resource of information. Browse through Q&A's and discover new aspects of your TC product. If you can't find an answer online, you have the option of submitting a question to our technical support staff who will then reply to you by e-mail. The TC Support Team is on constant alert to help you in any way they can.

Contact Details

Alternatively, you may contact the TC Electronic distributor in your area, or write to:

TC ELECTRONIC A/S Customer Support Sindalsvej 34 Risskov DK-8240 Denmark

USA: TC Electronic, Inc. 5706 Corsa Avenue, Suite 107 Westlake Village, CA 91362

www.tcelectronic.com

© BY TC ELECTRONIC A/S 2008. ALL PRODUCT AND COMPANY NAMES ARE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. ALL SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. TC ELECTRONIC IS A TC GROUP COMPANY.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

BASIC USE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

RADAR PAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

PPM PAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

PREFERENCE PAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

PRESETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

LEVEL VERSUS LOUDNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

ITU-R BS.1770 PRIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

METER CALIBRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

DISPLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

POST SCRIPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

PRESET MANAGEMENT NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

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LM5 & LM5D -TDM

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INTRODUCTION

LM5 and LM5D Radar Loudness Meter

LM5 represents a quantum leap away from simply measuring audio level to measuring perceived loudness. The old level method is responsible for unacceptable level jumps in television, for music CDs getting increasingly distorted, and for different audio formats and program genres becoming incompatible: Pristine music tracks from the past don’t co-exist with new recordings, TV commercials don’t fit drama, classical music or film and broadcast doesn’t match. The most fundamental audio issue of all – control of loudness – every day makes millions of people adjust the volume control over and over again.

LM5 is part of a universal and ITU standardized loudness control concept, whereby audio may easily and consistently be measured and controlled at various stages of production and distribution.

LM5 works coherently together with other TC equipment, or with equipment of other brands adhering to the same global standard. Follow the guidelines given to allow audio produced for different purposes to be mixed, without low dynamic range material such as commercials or pop CD’s always emerging the loudest.

FEATURES

• Realtime loudness meter adhering to ITU-R BS.1770.

• Loudness History Radar display.

• True-peak Bargraph display.

• Universal Descriptors (LM5D)

• Supports mono, stereo and 5.1.

• Presets for use in Broadcast, Music, Post and Film.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• Mac OS X (10.4 or higher) / Windows XP

• Pro Tools TDM 7.2 software (or higher)

• Pro Tools HD or HD Accel hardware

• iLok USB key

• iLok.com account and internet access required for product authorization

• System must meet Digidesign’s system requirements for Pro Tools TDM systems!

Since 1998, TC has performed listening tests and evaluation of loudness models; and therefore holds an extensive, Universal Database of loudness, based on ten thousands of assessments. The database covers all sorts of broadcast material, music, commercials, feature film and experimental sounds, and is verified against other independent studies.

The Universal Database is authoritative from an academic as well as a practical point of view. It has been indispensable when designing the LM5 meter, because it provided the missing link between short-term and long-term loudness, and enabled the statistically founded Universal Descriptors of LM5D.

Fig 1. Left: DRT for consumers under different listening situations Right: Peak level normalization means that material targeted low dynamic range platforms gets loud.

The chart of Dynamic Range Tolerance in Fig 1 is a side-effect of the studies mentioned: Consumers were found to have a distinct Dynamic Range Tolerance (DRT) specific to their listening environment. The DRT is defined as a Preferred Average window with a certain peak level Headroom above it. The average sound pressure level, which obviously is different from one listening condition to another, has to be kept within certain boundaries in order to maintain speech intelligibility, and to avoid music or effects from getting annoyingly loud or soft.

Audio engineers instinctively target a certain DRT profile when mixing, but because level normalization in broadcast and music production is based on peak level measures, low dynamic range signatures end up the loudest as shown by the red line in Fig 1, right. Audio production is therefore trapped in a downwards spiral, going for

LM5 & LM5D -TDM

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LM5 & LM5D -TDM

When production engineers realize the boundaries they should generally stay within, less dynamics processing is automatically needed during distribution, and the requirement for maintaining time-consuming metadata at a broadcast station is minimized. In broadcast, the goal is to use the same loudness measure for

- Production,

- Ingest,

- Linking

- Master Control Processing

- Logging

thereby ensuring better audio quality not only in DTV audio, but across all broadcast platforms. LM5 and TC processing can co-exist with PPM meters, VU meters or Dolby’s LM100 meter. LM5 greatly increases the usability of LM100 in production environments because it provides running status, and gives a standardized indication of both dialog and non-dialog program.

Fig 2, Color coding and target loudness for selected broadcast platforms based on a consumer’s Dynamic Range Tolerance, DRT.

The aim is to center dynamic range restriction around average loudness, in this case the –20 dB line, thereby automatically avoiding to wash out differences between foreground and background elements of a mix.

Note how different the broadcast requirements are from those of Cinema.

ever decreasing dynamic range. By now, the pop music industry is “right of” In Flight Entertainment in the illustration.

LM5 offers a standardized option: The visualization of loudness history and DRT in combination with long-term descriptors from production onwards, is a transparent and well sounding alternative to our current peak level obsession. Not only for music, but also in production for broadcast or film. The engineer, who may not be an audio expert, should be able to identify and consciously work with loudness developments within the limits of a target distribution platform, and with predictable results when the program is transcoded to another platform.

LM5 therefore color codes loudness so it’s easy to identify target level (green), below the noisefloor level (blue), or loud events (yellow), see Fig 2.

BASIC USE

LM5 makes use of a unique way of visualizing short-term loudness, loudness history, and long-term statistical descriptors (LM5D only). It may be used with mono, stereo and 5.1 material for any type of program material.

Press the “Radar” key to bring up the Radar page. This page will probably be used most of the time. The basic functionality of the Radar page is shown in Fig 3.

Fig 3, Radar page features of LM5D. Target Loudness is displayed at 12 o’clock of the outer ring, and at the bold, concentric circle of the radar. The Universal Descriptors, Consistency and Center of Gravity (LM5D only), are the yellow numbers in the lower part of the display. Press the “X” key to reset Radar and Descriptors.

The “Transport Controls”, Auto, Pause and Reset, are used to make the radar and descriptor measurements run, pause and reset. When “Auto” is pressed, run (green) and pause (yellow) follows the ProTools transports.

Press the “PPM” key to bring up the PPM page as shown in Fig 6. The PPM display is used to inspect balance between channels, overload of channels etc.

Press the “Prefs” key to bring up the Preferences display as shown in Fig 8. Note that you can “zoom” in time or radar resolution, as long as the history is not reset. For instance, change between 4 min per revolution to 1 hour per revolution, or 6 dB per division to 10 dB per division.

Presets can be stored specifying target loudness, noise floor, overload conditions etc.

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