Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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This video was sponsored by Curiosity Box.

Article version: fasterthanli.me/articles/the-science-of-loudness

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📚 Contents

00:00 Intro
00:50 What even is sound?
02:00 dB SPL
02:55 dB FS
03:44 Distortion and clipping
04:19 Quasi-PPMs
04:52 VU meters
05:24 Sample Peak
05:58 True Peak / Intersample overs
06:19 Sponsored segment
07:18 Compression
08:01 LKFS
09:18 Normalization / DRC
09:57 Equal-loudness contour graphs

✨ Credits

Video Editor
Sekun Ho

Everything elseist
Amos Wenger