Hear the difference

Without levelling · Gap between speakers 8.1 dB

With LevelCast · Gap between speakers 2.6 dB

Without levelling8.1 dBGap between speakers

With LevelCast2.6 dBGap between speakers

What you're hearing

This is a minute of "Two Microphones", a sample show made for LevelCast: Ido hosts from the studio, and Maya joins remotely and sounds quieter than him, the way a remote guest often does. The topic: learning a language in traffic. The second version went through the app's levelling chain at the Strong setting, with the same settings as on the phone, and nothing else in it was changed.

Press play, wait for Maya to start talking, and then switch between the versions without stopping. The player carries on from the exact same second, so you hear the difference right away.

What the numbers mean

The gap between speakers is the difference between the quiet parts and the loud parts of this minute. In the original it's 8.1 dB, and after levelling 2.6 dB. This gap is the reason your hand goes to the knob.

The overall level went up. Before levelling it was -24.9 dBFS, and after it -13.7 dBFS. This number is worth checking, because the easy way to close a gap is to turn everything down. Here the opposite happened. The quiet voice came up, so the whole episode sounds louder.

Two microphones on a table in a dark studio: one large and close, one small and far away — Each speaker comes with their own microphone and distance, and that's where the gap starts.

Why the gap exists at all

The host sits in the studio, close to a good microphone. The guest sometimes joins from another room, on another microphone, or over a remote call. Editing evens out the episode as a whole, but the gap inside the conversation stays. This is how the app deals with it.