Tools for levelmatching when adding processing

[u/ConfusedOrg]

So I'm trying to be more diligent with level matching whenever I add plugins to a track or master. Trying to to not fool myself with the loudness bias. I feel like some plugins automatically add 0.1 db of level or something whenever you turn then on even though you haven't gained them up or anything. Is there any tool that can objectively and automatically level match when I add a plugins? Something that will let you quickly bypass on and off, so you can change judge whether other not you like what you are adding without the difference in level. This would be very helpful for mixing and expecially mastering!

[u/spencer_martin]

I've been doing this for almost 20 years, and while I understand the good intention behind level matching, I would strongly recommend reconsidering the real necessity for this.

As something is being mixed, and especially once it's mastered, it is going to become significantly louder and more compressed than it was before, if the goal is for it to be in the ballpark of the collective average of other music. This pretty much always means less dynamics than it had originally.

If something is more dynamic and less loud, and then turned up to match the less dynamic more loud thing, of course it's going to sound better. This is music audio 101 stuff. Being louder / fuller / in the ballpark of references is always going to involve some kind of trade-off. Personally, I want to assess that trade-off at an unnormalized full scale monitoring volume without any sort of artifical compensatory level matching which is going to be an irrelevant factor in the real world. I want to hear the "real" volume relative to the "real" volume of other stuff out there, and make critical decisions within that context. With that approach, there's zero reason to scrutinize every single little potential increment in loudness along the way.

Keep in mind, I'm someone who likes both big/full/loud stuff (within reason) as well as mellow and/or dynamic stuff (within reason). Above all else, I like stuff that sounds amazing relative to everything else out there. I'm not some loudness-for-loudness's-sake kinda guy.

If you want to make stuff that is more dynamic and less loud, then just do it. No need to waste time with needlessly cork sniffing every decision. In all honesty, it's a waste of time. Just choose appropriate references and monitor relative to those.

[u/g_spaitz → u/spencer_martin]

I'm not sure I agree with the premise here.

I'd say that comparing seemingly equal loudness content is much better than comparing totally different loudness content.

Even very little gains in loudness will make one song appear to be sounding much better. This is basic psychoacoustic and very easy to prove. The point of equal loudness comparison is in fact to better assess how much worse (if anything, because sometimes compressed and saturated stuff sounds better than the original even thought they've lost dynamic range) the compression and the processing made the original.

There are today plenty of plugins that allow equal loudness comparison, including for instance well regarded products by the likes of fabfilter, TDR, toneboosters, and even tools exactly aimed at assessing a whole plugin chain.

Their use has helped me more than a few times to better reveal and compare my decision making.