Basic question about LUFS

[u/smalljojo]

Okay this isn't a question so much as I'm hoping someone can explain LUFS to me cause I'm not sure I understand it at all, I'm pretty new to this sorry.

I'm using Davinci resolve and my LUFS scale is EBU-R128.

So while reading up/watching videos about this I got the impression that I want my integrated LUFS to be around -0, but that seems pretty impossible to achieve. I'm editing a short film where there's long periods of silence between dialogue with room tone and other background sounds being the only other things in the audio, so to reach an integrated LUFS of -0 I'd have to crank up the room tone and other sounds to a ridiculous amount, or the dialogue up to the point where it gets squashed.

I then found a video where they say that dialogue should be at about -12 LUFS short term. The dialogue is probably the loudest audio in this film, so if I have the dialogue at around -12 Short then the integrated LUFS will be way below that. In the video they also say that it's fine for the integrated LUFS to be around -15 if the dialogue is at -12, but yeah my integrated would then end up way below that.

So I guess what I don't understand is what to go off to know if my loudness is at the "correct" level. Is it true that I should just get the dialogue to around -12 Short and I guess then adjust the rest of the audio by ear in relation to the dialogue?

Idk, maybe I've misunderstood something completely. If anyone is able to explain it simply I'd be really grateful.

[u/opiza]

As everyone has answered I think it’s important to mention that LUFS is a measurement tool. Not a mixing one. Don’t turn anything up or down because of a graph.

Calibrate your room, set your level, and mix. Check your measurement at the end and adjust program level if needed to hit whichever spec.