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.

Hear it in action.

Just right, −19 to −17 LUFS

Loudness over 3 seconds

Peak ceiling, −3 dBTP (dashed)

Listening demo coming soon.

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.

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.

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.

Last, peaks get caught.

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

Stay toward the lower end of the just-right zone to give the limiter less to do.

Simple, intuitive controls.

Dread Level controls: a Level knob and Reset, Lift and Bypass keys.

los angeles, california

Hello,

I made dread level for myself originally to aid in my never ending quest to find the perfect loudness for my auditions before I submit them.

Although there is no industry standard loudness level out there right now, (yet) my research landed me at about -18 LUFS. Roughly, the way this is calculated is with averages. So a really dynamic read could be at that level but still seem mostly quiet, causing casting directors to potentially reach for the volume knob. That's why I included extra processing that basically brings the average closer to the middle using gain adjustments. It was a 6 month long process of walking the tightrope between maintaining the dynamics of the performance and leveling it to the point of a somewhat consistent volume. I used my own auditions and real work for this, and over time, and with enough varying types of reads, I landed on the algorithm in the plugin now.

I also contacted several casting directors that I regularly work with to get their opinion on loudness, and it was extremely helpful in the development of Dread Level.

So at the end of the day, there is no magic level you can set your audition to that will give you any kind of edge in casting. In fact any loudness meter paired with gain adjustments will yield similar results. But staring at all the info on a typical loudness meter makes my eyes glaze over, and I have an audio engineering degree... So my hopes for this plugin is that it provides an easy way to give your auditions a consistent final level that sits right in the pocket of what casting is expecting. Also, look how big the knob is. Big knobs rule.

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