User Manual

WAVELAB
8 – 164 Metering
Maximizers being one of the main reasons). The trouble with this practice
is that it renders average loudness levels that are very close to the maxi-
mum peak levels which drastically reduces the available “headroom” or
dynamic range.
The difference between the average loudness and the peak level is often
around 11 to 15dB in a dynamic high quality recording. This means that if
you strive to squeeze the maximum “loudness” out of such a recording
when mixing or mastering, the peaks or transients will obviously have to
be limited quite heavily, thus negatively affecting the natural openness,
clarity and dynamic range of the audio material.
It “quashes” natural transients, lowers the dynamic range, introduces dis-
tortion and degrades the quality of the audio, all for the sake of making the
audio as loud as possible. For pristine audiophile recordings this is defi-
nitely not good practice!
The K-System has three meter operating modes (selectable from the VU-
Meter pop-up in the Level/Pan Meter Settings dialog). These are intended
for different applications, as follows:
• K-System 20:
This places 0 VU 20dB lower than standard VU mode, and is intended for music with very
wide dynamic range, e.g. classical music.
• K-System 14:
This places 0 VU 14dB lower than standard VU mode, and is intended for music with
slightly more compressed dynamic range. Use this for typical pop, R&B and rock music.
• K-System 12:
This places 0 VU 12dB lower than standard VU mode, and is primarily intended for broad-
cast applications.