Cubase 13: Optimising Loudness

Among other things, the Loudness Curve module’s settings can be customised to adjust the Duration (length of time displayed on the horizontal axis) and to show a target Reference Integrated loudness level.

Lower a mix’s integrated loudness with Squasher.

The ‘LUFS’ measurements that are used by streaming services to normalise loudness on playback, and which are now catered for by so many meters and limiters, aren’t just weighted (with an EQ curve that accounts for the sensitivity of human hearing to different frequencies) but they’re also ‘gated’: any portion of a signal where the momentary loudness falls below a defined level (‑10LU below the integrated loudness) won’t count towards the final integrated loudness.

When undertaking DIY mastering duties, the presence of this ‘floating gate’ raises two significant questions. First, for any given track, are there significant portions of time where the momentary loudness falls below the gate’s threshold? Second, if the answer is yes, might there an opportunity to raise some of those quieter sections just above the level of the gate, both to add energy or clarity, or to lower the integrated loudness — for example, to reduce the amount a track might be turned down — without negatively affecting the louder sections?

When I recently (SOS July 2024) reviewed iZotope’s RX 11, I was particularly impressed by its Loudness Optimize feature, which was conceived to address precisely those questions. As a Cubase user, that got me wondering... could I achieve something similar using only the tools that come bundled with Cubase?

Analyse This

For Cubase Pro users (v11 and above), the Loudness Curve module of the SuperVision analyser plug‑in can help with the first question. Inserted at a suitable position in your project, this provides a real‑time visual display of your audio’s loudness. The Loudness Curve module settings (first screenshot) allow you to customise the display. You can, therefore, set the time resolution of the display to suit your needs (I used a 45‑second window here) and choose which loudness parameters are shown (in this example, just the blue momentary and green integrated loudness curves are displayed).

SuperVision’s Loudness Curve module can provide very useful visual feedback on the loudness and dynamics of your audio.

As shown in the left‑hand panel of the second set of screens, these curves update in real time as the track is played. After an initial playback, the integrated curve will stabilise and give a reasonable sense of the overall loudness. You can then dip back into the Settings panel and set the Reference Integrated value to 10LU below the observed integrated loudness value. In this example, the integrated loudness is about ‑18LUFS, so I set the Reference Integrated value (it appears as a horizontal pale blue line) to ‑28LUFS. This isn’t what this parameter is really intended for (I’ll come back to that later) but it does provide you with a simple visual guide...