6 min read
Audio levels for beginner video editors: loudness, peaks and headroom
Stop guessing the yellow line. Here is what every beginner video editor needs to know about dialogue levels, music beds, peaks, and final loudness.
The first thing that betrays a beginner video edit is bad sound levels. Dialogue jumps up and down, music swallows the voice, and the final export clips on YouTube. Understanding a few basic numbers fixes most of these problems before they reach the audience.
What dBFS means on your timeline
dBFS is a digital scale where 0 dBFS is the absolute maximum before clipping. Negative numbers are quieter. Dialogue should live around -12 dBFS on average, with peaks no higher than -6 dBFS. That gives you headroom, which is the space between your loudest sound and 0 dBFS.
LUFS for delivery
LUFS measures perceived loudness over time. YouTube normalizes most content to -14 LUFS. Podcasts and broadcast often target -16 LUFS. If your video is louder than the platform target, the platform will turn it down. If it is quieter, it stays quiet. Premiere Pro has a Loudness Radar effect in the Essential Sound panel for checking this.
Setting levels by source type
- Dialogue: average -12 dBFS, peaks -6 dBFS. Keep it consistent across cuts.
- Music without voice: around -18 dBFS to -14 dBFS depending on the genre.
- Music under voice: around -24 dBFS so words remain clear.
- Sound effects: momentary, but never louder than the loudest dialogue peak.
Watch the meters, not just the line
The audio meters show the true level at the output, including any effects or gain. The clip rubber band only shows clip volume. Always do a final check with the master meters. If you see red, pull something down. You can always turn a mix up at the end, but you cannot fix clipped audio.