I recently sat in on a predub session with re-recording mixer, Jacob Cook. He was mixing a super heavy sound effects portion of an episode and I noticed he would regularly glance over at his loudness meter. See, he had the mix in the ballpark, but for this pass he was punching up certain scenes, making more creative choices and giving it a more dynamic, story-driven polish. Now although the decision making of his mixing was first and foremost informed by the story he was telling, he had to make sure he was still working within the guidelines of the delivery loudness specifications. This prompted me to look a bit deeper into loudness metering to help myself understand it a bit more for when I mix my own projects. Loudness can seem technical and intimidating at first, but what I’ve gathered is that it’s really about one simple idea: making sure your mix sounds balanced and consistent wherever it’s played.
