I’ve had to do a bit of VO (voice over) recording and editing for some games lately that will end up as apps for iPads etc. The work has got me thinking about levels again, and what is the right “standard” to use. Unfortunately there isn’t really a proper standard to adhere to as such, but there are some guidelines to use.
Thomas Lund from TC Electronic has written some good documentation about loudness, particularly with regards to using LUFS type metering. In case anyone is confused, LKFS is the same as LUFS these days, and LKFS is what is specified in Australia’s FreeTV OP’s for broadcast. A recent paper from Lund has some great information and has suggested a good target of -16 LUFS for mobile devices based on research into the playback volumes from common mobile devices. For more information, you can check out Lund’s paper at:
http://www.tcelectronic.com/media/2040040/mobile-test-paper-2013.pdf