{"id":1148,"date":"2021-07-26T12:37:34","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T12:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mixxed.com\/blog\/?p=1148"},"modified":"2022-09-22T11:58:37","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T11:58:37","slug":"how-do-i-measure-sound-pressure-levels-spl-in-my-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.routenote.com\/blog\/how-do-i-measure-sound-pressure-levels-spl-in-my-music\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do I Measure Sound Pressure Levels (SPL) in My Music?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is Sound Pressure?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sound pressure<\/strong> is the variation in atmospheric pressure caused by a sound. If you have a soundwave traveling through a room, the air pressure will change as the soundwave travels in every direction and consumes the air in the room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound pressure<\/strong> is the pressure measured within the wave relative to the surrounding air pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound sources cause vibrations in the air. These vibrations travel through the air, into your ear, and cause your eardrums to vibrate. If a sound has more pressure, the air vibrates more and causes your eardrums to vibrate more… making you perceive the sound as louder<\/strong>\/having a higher sound level<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sound Pressure, Source: SW Phonetics<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mixxed Mixer Tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Noise Floor: What is it?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Are Buses, Aux and Send Tracks?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Difference Between Gain and Volume<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Gain Staging?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top 5 Metering Plugins to Masterfully Improve Your Tracks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound Pressure vs Frequency? What Are Compressions and Rarefactions in a Soundwave?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned above, sound pressure is the pressure caused by vibrations of a soundwave when compared to the pressure around the soundwave. The louder the sound, the bigger the pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frequency, however, is the distance between the individual waves of the soundwave. The closer the waves, the higher the frequency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A soundwave is a longitudinal wave, so the vibrations are parallel to the direction of the wave. Longitudinal waves demonstrate compressions and rarefactions. Compression is an area of high pressure and rarefaction is an area of low pressure. Pressure within a soundwave moves in the same direction as the sound particles, so left to right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Compressions and Rarefactions, Source: Viva Differences<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is a Sound Pressure Level (SPL)?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sound Level<\/strong> = how loud the sound is<\/em>

Sound Pressure<\/strong> = variation in air pressure caused by the sound<\/em>

SPL<\/strong> = pressure level of the sound<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We measure SPL’s in pascals but then convert them to decibels (dB). These measurements are important because they give us numerical data to work with when evaluating the sound pressure in our music, at our gigs, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound pressure levels double in value every 3 dB. If your lead synth registers 60dB on the decibel scale, but you raise the gain to 63 dB, you’ve doubled the sound pressure level it exerts! Raise the gain another 7dB to 70dB and you’ve doubled<\/strong> the loudness of the synth altogether (+10dB doubles the perceived volume of a sound) and multiplied<\/strong> the SPL by 10! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Measure the Sound Pressure Levels in My Music? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You’re probably used to using a peak meter<\/strong> – the two bars that jump up and down as your audio plays out in your DAW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fl Studio Peak Meter<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

However, there is an issue with these if you want a true reflection of the loudness of your music. Peak meters don’t take into account how humans perceive sound.<\/strong> It’s possible for audio to reflect differently in these meters compared to how you actually hear the audio. Usually, it’ll sound louder than it looks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is a solution! LOUDNESS METERS like the free plugin YouLean Loudness Meter<\/strong><\/a>, developed by YouLean in the KVR Developer Challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ MORE: Download 37 Free PLugins from the KVR Developer Challenge<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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YouLean Loudness Meter, Source: Cockos Incorporated<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Loudness Meters analyze audio by taking into account duration as well as frequency. Volume is loudness over time, and humans are sensitive to some frequencies more than others. This means loudness meters give a more truthful representation of how loud the sound actually is. Loudness meters represent sounds, that we hear as loud, as loud. Crazy, I know! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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