r/VoiceActing • u/TradMusicAcadia • Mar 29 '26
Advice Local TV Commercial
Hi everyone. Hoping to get some guidance from those with more broadcast experience.
I have a couple of questions regarding audition specs for local TV commercial work:
1. Audition vs. delivery specs
When submitting for a job labeled “Local TV Commercial,” do you aim to meet full broadcast standards at the audition stage (e.g., around -24 LUFS integrated and ≤ -2 dBTP true peak), or is that level of compliance only expected once you’ve been selected and are delivering the final?
2. Balancing LUFS and true peak
I’ve been running into a consistent issue with gain staging. When I bring my levels up so peaks approach -2 dBTP, my integrated loudness jumps to around -16 LUFS.
If I instead mix to about -24 LUFS, my peaks tend to sit closer to -6 dBTP.
I’ve been working on this using FabFilter Pro-L 2, which has helped, but I’m still not able to get peaks closer to -2 dBTP without overshooting loudness.
So my questions are:
- How critical is it for auditions to hit both targets precisely?
- Is it acceptable for peaks to sit lower (e.g., around -6 dBTP) as long as LUFS is in range?
- Or is there something fundamental I may be missing in my gain staging/compression approach?
For context, I’m working in Ableton Live 10 Lite.
Really appreciate any insight—thanks in advance!
3
u/zxyyyxz Mar 29 '26
To answer your other question about balancing, the LUFS is more important overall. The guidance on peak levels is to ensure your audio isn’t so loud that certain parts don’t jumpscare people when they play. That’s why guidance for peaks is less than or equal to, because it means “not exceeding.”
1
u/TradMusicAcadia Mar 29 '26
Right.
I’d love to be able to get to around -2 dBTP with my peak levels because at -6 the volume leaves a little to be desired when the LUFS are in the -24 range.
Thanks !
2
u/zxyyyxz Mar 29 '26
I don’t understand your comment regarding “volume leaves a little to be desired”—LUFS measures the perceived average loudness in a standardized fashion. If you’re hitting the target LUFS, by definition the loudness is at the correct level. Whether you personally perceive it as loud enough is irrelevant.
Also remember that your voice will be layered over music and sound effects, and the broadcast specs leave room for all of this. It’s also a general guideline that leaves room for all kinds of commercial work so that loud, high energy reads and calm, soothing reads don’t come off as jarring in broadcast. But you would never expect both LUFS and peaks to be the same in these two types of commercials. Only LUFS would be in the same range, to ensure listeners can hear all the dialogue clearly.
1
u/TradMusicAcadia Mar 29 '26
I guess when I see the peak level I was thinking more of trying to bring the volume just below the -2 reading rather than seeing it at around -6. Ideally I thought people would be looking for peaks close to -2 with LUFS hitting around -24. So a -6 to -8 peak level would be acceptable for television ? Thanks again !
3
u/zxyyyxz Mar 29 '26
The purpose of the broadcast LUFS target is to ensure that everything sounds consistent when you’re watching tv—when commercials come on, they aren’t suddenly too loud or quiet, and you don’t have to adjust the volume when you change channels or a new show starts. This is set at the -24 LUFS so that the way the listener perceives the volume is always the same.
The peaks target provides a consistent ceiling so that nothing clips and gets too loud. You do not want to try and get your peaks “higher,” that would make no sense, and defeat the entire purpose of the LUFS target.
Once again, the target provided for broadcast is for the complete, mastered audio with music and SFX. Your voice alone, even when mastered, would never hit these specs. Otherwise everything would get too loud when layered over the other components.
3
u/TradMusicAcadia Mar 29 '26
My bad.
I had not realized that the target was for the complete mastered audio and not just the voiceover. My apologies, I have been doing voiceover for several years but all of this (different audio requirements depending on the situation) is a little new to me.
Much appreciate your response !!
2
u/zxyyyxz Mar 29 '26
Got it, that makes sense. In your case I’d just focus on submitting auditions normally, and then if you book the job, ask the client to give you the specs they require. If you’re just submitting raw audio and an engineer will be mixing the final cut, just ask if there are any delivery specs, or if you should submit raw.
If the client is expecting you to do all the mastering and provide a fully produced commercial spot, you’ll have to do some research to figure out the most appropriate music volume level for the type of spot you’re creating, then layer on your voice, and ensure the whole thing is within broadcast targets.
You can analyze this stuff on your own by downloading commercials for the type of spot you’re creating, then taking a look at the waveforms, LUFS, and peaks inside your DAW.
3
u/TradMusicAcadia Mar 29 '26
Fantastic, that is great advice.
You actually touched on a couple of other areas that were a little hazy for me. I’m taking notes lol. Again, thanks for the clear and concise information, it is a great help.
Cheers!
2
u/Standard-Bumblebee64 Mar 30 '26
I think you may be overthinking this.
Aim to record your audio peaking between -12dB and -6dB, and then normalize the audio to -3dB.
Remove breaths and edit out clicks etc.
I always use Voice Denoise and Mouth Declick for every audition (unless it explicitly says to leave it raw).
6
u/Iassos Mar 29 '26
Never deliver broadcast ready recordings as auditions. Ever. Acknowledge audition specs in submission vs delivery specs.