An end to the loudness war?
 
http://youtu.be/31zHqzjRn4c
 
I wonder where we can get the new meters?

For years I have been going on about the true importance of working with rms values in the music. This video is very good and only reinforces that big time. Even without the LCast loudness meter if you are working with rms values you are right in the very ball park. The difference is only 1dB or less when you are comparing rms and Loudness units anyway.

Notice how he is using Klanghelm VU meters (which I have recommended on many occasions) Notice too how it is set to -10 as the ref level.  Yes the Loudness meter is excellent and of course gives you even more information about the loudness of a track over time etc which is very handy to know. But for someone who is already very versed in working with rms metering it is nothing that new either.

More people should get onto it. VU meters can tell you so much about setting incoming track levels, buss and final buss levels. Like I have always said without them you are shooting in the dark a bit and really the peak level meter is such a useless device and so many people rely on them yet they are not really telling you very much at all other than if you are peaking up into 0dB FS or not which is important of course but you need rms metering as well. Most DAW's are not set up for any form of accurate rms metering but it is easily rectified.

Another important reason why K System metering is so important as you need to decide on a ref level of some sort while you are working on a project all the way through and also for the final ref level in mastering. He chose a slightly weird ref level I think there. His VU's were showing 0 db Vu when the ref level was at -10. Which is pretty hot compared to the K system -12 ref level which is known as broadcast. You can work at a range of ref levels obviously.

I think if you want to create a very analog sounding mix in the digital environment start first by acting in a way as was done back then. All rms metering nice and even all the way in, thru and out. It goes a long way to becoming a nice smooth analog mix at the end of the day. 

For those interested you can get the LCast meter here:

http://www.meterplugs.com/lcast

It is quite expensive and I can see why. It would be a great mastering tool for those interested in professional mastering. But a great VU meter will not cost anywhere near that and can put you right in the ballpark for much less.

http://www.klanghelm.com/VUMT.html

The ballistics of the Klanghelm meter can be adjusted to match a very expensive real VU (which I have) and it is very close.

BTW my system reports that test file correctly as -11.5 dB rms which means my system is set up and reading correctly. Be aware that Sonar reports rms readings incorrectly as -3dB lower than that with its own rms meters. Built in rms meters are not great anyway as they are indicating way too low on the scale. This is easily corrected by using a VU meter plugin such as the Klanghelm with its ref level set accordingly.

Jeff Evans


Be aware that Sonar reports rms readings incorrectly as -3dB lower than that with its own rms meters. Built in rms meters are not great anyway as they are indicating way too low on the scale. This is easily corrected by using a VU meter plugin such as the Klanghelm with its ref level set accordingly.

Good to know!

This is an important post by the OP. It is getting lost and forgotten about by slightly less important posts.  People need to watch this video it is very interesting and also shows the relevance of rms metering right throughout your signal chain from the very beginning to the very end.

http://youtu.be/31zHqzjRn4c 

Welp... certainly glad you bumped it and I, for some reason, clicked on this thread. Had no idea what the thread title meant nor what your post meant, Jeff but if you say it's important... I look. And lo and behold... it was very important.

Soooo... where would I find these RMS meters in Sonar? I'm assuming I'd have to pay for LUFS meter.

Cheers and thanks. Vid is now in my Mastering bookmarks folder. 

Well Beeps you can get any of your meters in Sonar to display rms but for two reasons they are not great. One is they will be reading 3 db too low and the second reason is you are looking at something that is way down the scale and when things are that low on the scale they are simply hard to read.

A good alternative is to invest in a VU meter plugin. Now there was free one mentioned here:

http://sleepytimerecords.com/audioplugins

 
This is the earlier VU meter and is Ok but they have improved this. I will post a link to the newer one soon. I am away from home right now.

I think PSP is giving away a free VU meter plugin too.  
 
http://www.pspaudioware.c...ters/psp_vintagemeter/

You can get the Klanghelm VU meters here as well for a very low price:

http://www.klanghelm.com/VUMT.html

The idea is you select a dbFS reference level and set the meter to show FSD or 0 dB VU when the ref tone is at the chosen ref level. There will often be a mono and stereo version of the same meter so you insert the correct type on the same type of track (or buss) you are metering.

You can use them to set incoming track levels very easily while tracking and as you progress through the project you can just insert them here and there where you need to monitor rms levels at various points in the signal flow.

The LCast meter would be a great thing to have of you were doing a lot of more pro mastering stuff but any decent rms VU meter will do a good job easily. 

hmm... I think this going to require some serious research. Thanks for the kickstart. 

Cheers!

Oh... how about Ozone? That's something I've considered for future purchase (if I can ever scrape up some dough again). I'd imagine as a mastering tool it would cover this type of stuff.

Thanks again.

Hi Beeps, yes Ozone certainly covers all your metering options and more! The good thing though about a simple VU type VST is you can insert it right on your tracks during tracking. I suppose you could also do that with Ozone and just use the metering functions.

The Sleepytime Records free VU meters looks cool. I have not tried it yet but will give it a shot when I back on deck. The Klanghelm meters work very well though I can certainly vouch for that. One of things you want a VU meter VST to have is good ballistics and that should match a real VU meter well if possible. I know I can get the Klanghelm meters to move well like a real VU meter. There are quite a few settings for the ballistics. (in case you are wondering, ballistics is how the needle actually moves in relation to program material. Not all VU meter ballistics are equal. Usually expensive hardware meters tend to have the right ballistics)

Thanks for the heads up on this.

The Klanghelm meters are only eight euros so they will be in my toolbox for sure.

Not watched the video yet because I'm currently watching the end of the Dubai 24hr race.