HoRNet ELM128 MK2 2.2.1 update

HoRNet ELM 128 MK2 is a powerful plugin that adheres to the EBU R128 standard for loudness metering and normalization. Designed with professionals in mind, this plugin ensures that your audio work adheres to the most stringent broadcast and streaming standards. Whether you’re working in mono, stereo, or 5.1 surround sound, the HoRNet ELM 128 MK2 offers exceptional flexibility, making it an ideal solution for a variety of audio production needs.

The HoRNet ELM 128 MK2 provides five essential loudness measurements: momentary, short-term, integrated, dynamic range, and true peak. These measurements offer you deep insights into the loudness characteristics of your audio, ensuring that your content complies with the required standards for various platforms, including radio, TV, streaming services, and film production. Let’s dive into each of these loudness readings:

1. Momentary Loudness is a real-time measurement that gives you the current loudness level of the audio signal. This reading is essential for quickly identifying loudness spikes and adjusting your levels before they cause distortion or clipping.

2. Short-Term Loudness takes into account the loudness over a slightly longer period (around 3 seconds). This helps you gauge the consistency of your audio levels and whether they fluctuate too much in short bursts, ensuring smooth transitions within a track or broadcast.

3. Integrated Loudness provides an average loudness over a longer period, typically the duration of a complete program or track. It is used to evaluate the overall loudness and ensure consistency throughout the entire content.

4. Dynamic Range is the difference between the softest and loudest parts of your audio. Monitoring this range ensures that your content doesn’t suffer from excessive compression or distortion, which can ruin the listening experience.

5. True Peak is critical for preventing clipping and distortion, as it represents the actual peak levels of the audio signal, even beyond the digital zero mark. It helps ensure that the signal never exceeds the maximum allowable levels.

These measurements collectively provide a comprehensive understanding of how your audio behaves across different time scales and levels, allowing you to control loudness with precision and adhere to the necessary loudness standards.

One of the most notable features of the HoRNet ELM 128 MK2 is its support for mono, stereo, and 5.1 surround metering. This multi-format support makes it incredibly versatile, enabling its use across a wide range of audio setups, from simple home studio recordings to complex post-production environments. For example, when working with 5.1 surround sound, it’s critical to measure the loudness of each channel to ensure the balance of sound across all speakers. The HoRNet ELM 128 MK2 allows you to do just that, making it an indispensable tool for mixing and mastering surround sound content.

Another excellent feature of the HoRNet ELM 128 MK2 is its history graph. This feature enables you to monitor the loudness of your signals over time, providing a visual representation of the loudness fluctuations. With the ability to review up to 12 hours of loudness history, you can track how your audio behaves over an extended period, such as during a live broadcast or a lengthy program. This detailed historical data is especially useful for analyzing loudness consistency and ensuring that the dynamic range doesn’t exceed the limits set by industry standards.

The plugin is based on LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale), which is the global standard for measuring audio loudness. LUFS takes into account the way humans perceive sound, providing a more accurate representation of loudness than traditional dB (decibel) measurements. Unlike dB, LUFS includes a pre-emphasis filter that accounts for the fact that our ears are more sensitive to certain frequencies, such as mid-range sounds, while less sensitive to very low or very high frequencies. This makes LUFS a more effective way to gauge how loud or soft an audio signal truly sounds, especially in environments like broadcasting, streaming, and post-production, where the accurate perception of loudness is crucial.

One of the most useful aspects of the HoRNet ELM 128 MK2 is its normalization function. This function automatically adjusts the gain of your audio in real time to ensure that the signal never exceeds the reference loudness level you’ve set. Whether you’re measuring momentary, short-term, or integrated loudness, the plugin’s normalization function adapts seamlessly to maintain the correct level. This takes the guesswork out of loudness control, especially when working with audio that may come from different sources, each with varying loudness levels. The result is a much more consistent listening experience for your audience, whether it’s for radio, television, or streaming platforms.

In the professional world of broadcasting, film, and audio post-production, ensuring that your content meets the necessary loudness standards is vital. The EBU R128 standard, which is widely used in Europe and across the globe, helps to reduce the perception of volume differences between various programs. This consistency is essential for a comfortable listening experience, particularly when switching between channels or shows. By using the HoRNet ELM 128 MK2, audio engineers and producers can ensure their work meets EBU R128 loudness targets, preventing complaints about inconsistent volume levels and ensuring a smoother experience for listeners.

The latest update to the HoRNet ELM 128 MK2—version 2.2.1—is a maintenance release that addresses several bugs and performance issues, ensuring that the plugin runs smoothly across all supported platforms. The update includes the following fixes:

• Fixed random crashes when using the graph view

• Fixed normalization volume spikes when activating the plugin

• Fixed crashes that occurred when resizing the interface in Pro Tools

• Fixed memory leaks that were affecting performance

The update is available for free to existing owners of the plugin and can be downloaded via HoRNet DoIn or directly from the user area on the HoRNet website.

In conclusion, the HoRNet ELM 128 MK2 is an essential tool for anyone working with audio loudness. With its precise measurements, multi-format support, and normalization capabilities, it provides everything you need to meet the strict requirements of broadcasting and streaming services. Whether you’re working on a single track, a radio show, or an entire film, this plugin ensures that your audio remains within the desired loudness range, providing a consistent, high-quality listening experience for your audience.