Crest and Dynamic Range Confusion

[dougfatheruk]

Hi all,

I seem to be reading conflicting information regarding crest factor and dynamic range. It was my understanding until reading P168 of BK's Mastering Audio that they were one in the same?

According to some other threads the DR is the difference between the loudest and quietest passages and crest factor is the immediate difference between RMS and Peak Levels.

Where my confusion lies is with the TT dynamic range meter. Correct me if i'm wrong but the TT meter shows RMS and Peak levels and the sum of the difference as the DR, after all the meter is constantly changing.

Thanks in advance

[uros]

You are right. DR is the difference between the loudest and quietest passages and crest factor is the difference between average (RMS, VU...) and Peak Levels. You are confused because these two terms are used interchangeably (like phase and polarity).

Hope this helps.

[dougfatheruk]

Thanks for that.

Can you shine any light on what the TT DR meter is indicating? For example if i play 5 seconds of the loudest part of a song how is it able to give me a DR reading?


Thanks

[uros]

You are welcome. I must admit that I haven't used TT DR meter (despite I downloaded and installed it) but since it was developed with the idea to help fight the loudness war I assume it indicates the crest factor.

Cheers.