dreadlevel

A loudness plugin for voiceover auditions.

Set your read to the level your delivery instructions require.

Join the waitlist How it works
The dread level plugin: a cream console with an owl screen reading Just right, a ribbed level knob and Reset, Lift and Bypass keys.

Interactive software illustration. No audio is processed here.

Interface preview.

Just right, −19 to −17 LUFS

Loudness over 3 seconds

Peak ceiling, −3 dBTP (dashed)

Interface illustration. Audio playback isn’t part of this pre-release preview.

The plugin capturing a take: the owl does the math while the waveform is written in.
The plugin’s lower screen: the white gain line steps down between phrases.
The lower screen with Lift on: the white gain line steps up between quiet phrases.
The plugin, with its limit lamp blinking and the just-right zone marked around the knob.

First, it listens.

Play the take through once from top to bottom. While it plays, dread level measures every phrase and builds a map of where the loud and quiet parts are.

It doesn’t change a thing until it has heard the whole read.

Then, loud phrases come down.

Phrases that jump well above your usual speaking level get turned down, as whole phrases. The change happens in the pause before the phrase starts.

Most gain changes follow pauses. Sustained delivery changes without a pause can also trigger a smooth transition.

If you want, Lift brings quiet ones up.

Lift is off until you press it. Switched on, it raises whole quiet phrases that have dropped below your usual level.

Lift starts off. It raises eligible quiet phrases; short fragments are not lifted on their own.

Last, peaks get caught.

A lookahead true-peak limiter catches whatever still pokes out. The limit lamp blinks when it works.

Follow your client or casting instructions. The beta zone is a working target; limiter activity alone does not establish sound quality.

Simple, intuitive controls.

Dread Level software console illustration; interactive controls are unavailable while motion is paused.

Interactive illustration. The Level dial changes the artwork; no audio is processed.

DreadCorp

DC-1-2026

dreadlevel

What it is
Software.
For
Voiceover auditions, after you’ve picked the take.
Availability
Pre-release. Join the waitlist for one availability email.
Status
Not yet available to purchase or download.
Controls
One Level knob. Lift, Reset and Bypass keys.
Leveling
Phrase by phrase, with gain transitions across pauses and sustained delivery changes. Peak protection can act within a phrase.
Loud phrases
90% of the excess more than 2 dB above typical speech, up to 18 dB, in the current tuning.
Lift (optional)
Off by default. Eligible quiet phrases of at least half a second are raised toward typical speech, up to 12 dB.
Limiter
Lookahead true-peak, 8-phase reconstruction, 3 ms ahead. Ceiling −3 dBTP.
Latency
40 ms, reported to your DAW.
Measurement
EBU R128 / ITU-R BS.1770 loudness, K-weighted.
Sample rates
44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 and 192 kHz.
Just right (beta)
−19 to −17 LUFS integrated, aiming for −18. That’s Jack’s working recommendation, not an industry standard. Client, agent, casting and portal instructions override it.
Under the hood
A Rust signal-processing core in an iPlug2 plugin, with the interface drawn in three.js.

It’s just a loudness plugin. Your performance is what matters.

DreadCorp owl

Join the
waitlist.

One email when Dread Level is available.

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One availability note. No newsletters.

Waitlist privacy

Dread Corp uses your email to manage your signup and send the one Dread Level availability note you request. We also keep signup status and the time and version of your consent. Signing up does not enroll you in a newsletter, beta or paid plan.

Read the full waitlist privacy notice