Solid Begbroke

State Oxford
Applications Note
Logic England

Product: All No: 77 Date:

Wed, Jan 27, 1999

Subject: Dolby Level

Issued by: Steve Drummond Rev: 1.1 Page: 1 of 3

What is Dolby Level?

Dolby level is a standard reference level defined by Dolby Labs to simplify audio
interchange between film facilities. It is defined as follows:

1. Dolby level = 50% modulation on an optical sound track

2. Dolby level = 185 nWb/m on an analogue tape

3. Dolby level = -20dBFs on digital tape.

4. Pink Noise at Dolby level (measured using a VU meter) will produce a sound
pressure level of 85dBSPL at the listening position when played through a single
speaker channel.
Note that if measured using a PPM meter the pink noise level will read
approximately 6dB higher than a steady state tone at Dolby level.

All tapes should be striped with either 1kHz tone at Dolby level to allow alignment
or Dolby Tone if recorded with noise reduction (apart from sub woofer channels
which should be striped with 100 Hz tone).

What does this mean in the real world?

As the above definition shows there is no standard line level for 'Dolby Level'.
However facilities will standardise on an analogue level that they use as Dolby level
within the organisation. This means that all machines in the facility can be lined up
identically and simplifies work flow between different rooms.

Typical Dolby levels can equate to line levels in the range -4 dBu to +8 dBu, but the
majority of facilities use either 0dBu (-4VU) or +4 dBu (0 VU).

With analogue consoles this means that insert points on bus or monitor outputs
must be at the same standard line level as all other outputs. Otherwise there are few
problems interfacing to an analogue desk.

Solid State Logic Product Department Tel: +44 (0)1865 842300

Begbroke Oxford OX5 1RU England Fax: +44 (0)1865 379100
Solid Begbroke

State Oxford
Applications Note
Logic England

What happens if I have a digital console?

When a digital console is connected to an analogue recorder via ADCs and DACs
things are relatively simple. The only requirement is that insert points on bus or
monitor outputs must be at the same level as all other outputs.
When a digital console is connected to a digital recorder via a digital interface things
become more complicated.

-20 dBFs = Dolby level, which means that -20 dBFs = the house analogue Dolby
level.

This means that the console ADC and DACs, and the convertors on any digital
recorders in the system, must be set up so that -20 dBFs = house Dolby level.

So before setting up ADC and DAC calibration check what the house Dolby level is
and set up so that this will correspond to a level of -20 dBFs.

Meter scales

All A-Series consoles have two meter scales - a digital peak and a VU scale.

The 0 VU point (which normally corresponds to +4 dBu) can be set in the 'MAIN
METER SCALES' file in the SYSFILES directory. This is a text file that may be
edited using the DATA/Edit command The last line of the file sets the level in dBFs
that corresponds to 0 VU. This should normally be set so that +4 dBu gives a
reading of 0 VU (unless specifically requested otherwise by the client). Note that
any change only takes effect after restarting the system.

Problems with tape machines

All SSL digital consoles ADC and DACs can be lined up anywhere in the range
0dBu = -15dBFs to 0dbu = -24dBFs.
Unfortunately this is not the case for all digital tape recorders. The Tascam DA88
and Sony PCM 800 in particular are fixed at 0dBu = -20 dBFs.

This effectively fixes Dolby level in facilities using these machines at 0dBu.

Applications Note: 77 Page 2 of 3

 State
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Logic

Summary
Oxford

England

Applications Note: 77
Begbroke

Analogue 0dBu = 0 VU = 16 bit card RIO 16 bit card Proc 20 Bit Card RIO 20 Bit Card Proc
Dolby level ADC DAC ADC DAC ADC DAC ADC DAC

-4 dBu -16dBFs -12dBFs 500 100 450 50 550 500 450 400

-2 dBu -18 dBFs -14dBFs 350 150 300 100 450 600 355 505

0dBu -20 dBFs -16 dBFs 200 300 200 250 300 750 285 638

+2 dBu -22 dBFs -18 dBFs 150 450 100 400 150 900 225 800

+4 dBu -24 dBFs -20 dBFs 50 750 50 750 0 999 180 999

Note: 20 Bit card gains (processor) apply to Avant, Aysis Air and Axiom-MT only.
These values should also be used when setting gains in the Outputs/Setup pop up.
Note that gains can only be set from this pop up if RIOs are fitted with V3.0/2 software or higher
Applications Note

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