TC Electronic has released TC Icon v7, updating the hardware controller used for its LM6 and LM2 Loudness Radar Meters, and the TC Icon control software for the DB6, DB4 MkII, DB8 MkII, System 6000 MkII and LM2.
Among the new facilities offered, users are now able to set a time interval (from one hour to one week) at which the logging data will be saved and organised for future reference. Units are connected via Ethernet to a PC or Mac running TC Icon software that will pull the data automatically and save it in a folder specified by the user.
The TC Icon software allows control and auto-logging from a vast number of units. However, auto-logging is not the only new feature in the TC Icon v7 update.
New Peak to Loudness Ratio Parameter Loudness Range (LRA) quantifies loudness variations inside a programme or a music track – but LRA is not very sensitive to transient limiting and clipping as a result of loudness practices in commercial and music production.
Peak to Loudness Ratio (PLR) is a more appropriate measure of such levels of compression, which have an adverse effect on clarity, intelligibility and audio quality. PLR is also relevant when tailoring a track or a programme to downstream headroom. For instance, ATSC A/85 and EBU R128 provide 22dB of headroom, while Sound Check in iTunes offers 16dB of headroom. Lowering PLR further damages audio quality without gaining loudness on any modern platform.
More: www.tcelectronic.com 
