Audio levels

What it means

Audio levels describe loudness at two stages: recording, where the gain decides how strong the signal is when captured, and mixing, where the editor balances music, voices and effects. In digital audio, levels are measured in dBFS, decibels relative to full scale, where 0 dBFS is the absolute maximum and everything else is negative.

Getting levels right is a balance. Too high and peaks hit 0 dBFS and distort, see audio clipping. Too low and the signal sits close to the noise floor, so raising it later brings up hiss. For finished videos, platforms also normalize overall loudness, measured in LUFS, so mixes that are much too loud get turned down.

How it works in practice

When recording speech, aim for peaks around minus 12 dBFS, leaving room for sudden laughs or shouts. Action cameras often use automatic gain, which suits most situations; with an external mic, check whether the camera allows manual gain.

In the mix, a common target is dialogue around minus 12 to minus 6 dBFS on peaks, music below it, and a total loudness near minus 14 LUFS for online platforms.

Use the meters in your editor rather than your ears alone, since listening volume and headphones vary widely. Watch the waveform too, which shows the same story visually.

What to watch out for

Automatic gain pumps. In quiet moments it raises noise, and when something loud happens it dives, so ambience swells and drops between clips.

Mixing on laptop speakers hides problems: bass disappears and harsh frequencies sound fine. Check on headphones and a phone speaker before export, since most viewers will hear it on one of the two.

Platforms turn loud videos down, so pushing everything to maximum loudness gains nothing and squashes the dynamics. Sudden jumps between clips are also jarring; even out levels so viewers never reach for the volume button, and duck music under voices with ducking.