How quiet is too quiet?

Hi all,

weve all heard about the noise wars and things being too loud. But I was wondering, is there a rule of thumb as to music being too quiet? I heard somewhere that there was a standard level of quietness that should not be breached in the film industry of -20 db. Is this so?

Hi John,

Long time no see!

I've not heard of there being a 'too quiet' level of -20 for film... but it wouldn't surprise me.

Generally speaking, -6dB is the "normal loud" level and -12 is the average for broadcast... this allows for certain dramatic sounds to grab the audience's attention!

If you've got a particularly quiet film you could try importing the audio into Logic and see where the "anti-peak" is :)

Would be interested to hear if anyone else knows of the -20dB quietness level?

Rounik