Metering plugins

for vu's
http://www.klanghelm.com/
http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/tools_and_meters/psp_2meters/
 
I use this freebie quite often-
http://hofa-plugins.de/pages/start_en/4u_en.php
 
 
 
 

This is one of my favs...but's it's not AAX yet...only RTAS...but it's free

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/tt_dynamic_range_meter_by_pleasurize_music_foundation

I see a lot of people using this one too...

http://www.meterplugs.com/kmeter
 
and it's AAX and only $49

That Klanghem meter VST looks really cool and is cheap - but what would you do with it?

Here's another freebie...

http://www.klangfreund.com/lufsmeter/

Keep em coming ;-)

Other then 

Waves Durrough
BX_Meter
This one, which I believe is 32 bit
http://www.naiant.com/vst/vu.html
 
This one from SSL

http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/X-ISM/
 
This one for 19 Euros

http://www.rigsonics.com/index.php/shop/rig-sonics-level-meter-detail

This one from SleepyTime VST

http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=1216

This old freebie from PSP
 
http://www.pspaudioware.com/free_psp_plug-ins/
 
The AC-R128 here


https://www.audiocation.de/en/plugin
 
This one

http://www.sonorissoftware.com/catalog/meter-p-34.html?osCsid=2a0d9c745dd0994748f448726ab3392a
 
DP Meter Pro from Blue Cat


http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_DPeakMeterPro/
 
 

Blurb

now this has a 9db Dynamic range at the (peak rms) , try crank the stereo volume up to 100% on your stereo.
But most amp's and speakers start distorting at 50% or more volume so i guess 9 db dynamic range is plenty 
https://soundcloud.com/soundblend-1/9dbdynrange 

I hate everything about LOUD, there's nothing good about it...

cclarry

carl

cclarry
Blurb

What's Blurb?

I posted something and realized it wasn't what I thought it was Carl..

Got it!

You are getting confused. The -23 LUFS is a broadcast standard. It does not apply to CD's necessarily.
 
Read this it is an excellent article on the subject.
 
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb14/articles/loudness-war.htm
 
Apple are using a ref level of -15 to -16 LUFS in terms of their automatic gain adjustments in itunes etc.. It is a good reference to go for because it means Apple wont be adding or subtracting much again at that level.
 
I am using the free Orban loudness meter and it is great also. Check out the links mentioned in that article too. There is some very interesting reading to be done there as well as a whole set of LUFS test signals. You need the test signals to actually set up your loudness meters first.
 
You don't need the Perception plugin either. You can craete the same setup using the TT DR meter. You also need the DR meter as well as the LUFS meters. The DR meter gives you more info about your audio. It is NOT the same as the LRA range either.
 
There is a sweet spot in mastering betwen loudness and dynaimc range. Steely Dan have got it exactly right in their CD 'Everything Must Go' It has a DR reading of about 10 and the CD reaches about -11 to -10 dB rms level wise a lot of the time.
 
K system metering with VU meters goes a long way towards dynamic masters. You sort of need all three. K system and VU meters during production, and then LUFS and DR meters on mastering. You can also put the DR meter over your premastered mix too to make sure you are not squashing things too hard.

Thanks Soundblend too for your great Youtube links in post #9.  They are excellent at explaining it all.  It is not so easy to understand actually and it does take a little while for it to all sink in.
 
The Sound on Sound article too is one of the best things I have read in a long while on the subject. Please read it and more than once too. It explains it all rather well.
 
Download the LUFS test tones  (they are very unique!)  and also there is another very detailed document that explains the test tones very well. Run them through your LUFS meters and make sure you are getting the correct readings. Sometimes you have to adjust some parameters of the LUFS meters before those test signals show up right.

Say, Jeff, would you happen to have a link to something about Apple and LUFS? I've read the Apple mastering pdf but they were vague about any specific loudness target. If that -15 to -16 figure is correct, then you're right, it would seem to be a reasonable target. 
 
Ironic, isn't it, that Apple's slogan is something like "hear it the way the engineers intended", when in fact it's working the other way around. The engineers are figuring out how to game Apple, so it's Apple (the company that settled its lawsuit with Apple Records by promising to stay out of the recording industry) that's telling engineers how to do it.

Dave it is mentioned in the SOS article I referred to. They are suggesting that the Apple LUFS level is -16 LUFS. Apple wont give it away either but some clever people have figured it out. So iTunes does a quick LUFS check on a track and adjusts it in relation to -16 LUFS. If your track is up around -8 LUFS then iTunes will take 8 db of gain off that. And that is when the track sounds weak and feeble. If your track is around -20 LUFS than iTunes will add 4 dB of gain to it.
 
But if your track is nice and dynamic and is sitting around -16 LUFS then iTunes wont touch it. Just lets it pass and it will sound great as a result.
 
I tend to matser a little higher than -16 LUFS but not by much -10 to -12 LUFS say. That means that iTunes will only be nudging my tracks down by 4 dB or so. They still sound great. BTW iTunes has to have the Soundcheck feature switched on as well. If a client complains to me that a track is too low in iTunes it usually turns out they don't have Soundcheck engaged. I tell them to engage it and then they are happy.
 
 
 

Jeff Evans
Download the LUFS test tones  (they are very unique!)  

Uhmm where is the link for the LUFS test tones again ?

Mod Bod
This discussion is very informative.  Let me jump back in by saying my interest was generated by a video I bought from PureMix.net that touted input levels at -18dfs was the best way of starting the recording process.  

Well, I used record hot (not clipping but trying to use all the bits in a black face ADAT) and if I don't watch myself, I still record hot.  Some of my preamps have meters and others do not so I don't really know what levels are hitting my converters until the LEDs in my Frontier Tango 24 AD/DA boxes start going yellow or red.
 
So then I have to use the Total Mix software in my RME soundcard to try to find where I'm at level wise but I'm not sure that the meters will give me RMS levels or not.   My ears tell me things are ok but when I hit Pro Tools those meters seem to tell me something else.  And then the audio wave forms are drawn quite normally but the channel meters seem hot.
 
I haven't had any complaints about the finish product but I'm at the stage where I want to get past what I "feel" is right and into what I "know" is right.  I want to get projects finished faster and not have to go back and redo gain staging after all of the tracks are recorded and I have a big loud mess at the output bus.

I know that Pro Tools uses dbFS for their meters...and the recommendation of the -18 dbFS is based
on the fact that most audio processing (either Analog or plugins) has the "sweet spot" of -18 dbFS.
It's not to say that you can't go over or under and still be ok....it's just the "Sweet Spot" of the 
Hardware, and since the Plugins emulate the hardware, that is also the case for them, so your RMS
level is what is critical for falling in at that -18 dbFS "Sweet Spot" to get the "most" from it.  
Your peaks can approach 0, but always be safe and allow headroom in the mix for the Mastering Engineer.