Anyone got any favorites?  I mainly want lean, mean, not terribly expensive and it has to include VST, RTAS and AAX versions.
 
The idea is to improve my gain staging technique and to unlearn some old habits from back in the 90s ADAT days.

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
 
 
 
 

Hornet's VU meter is great. The automatic gain feature really is helpful. No AAX, but at about 6 dollars before the frequent 40 percent sales, it's certainly worth playing with.

http://www.hornetplugins....ugins/hornet-vu-meter/

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

Not sure about the others but the Klanghelm is the closest ballistics wise to the real thing. I have a pair of very high quality real VU's and have done some quite exhaustive tests comparing ballistics. They will all read 0 dB VU on a continuous tone but many DO NOT dance in the same way a real VU meter does.  (that is where the difference between the men and the boys really occurs, see if the ballisitics are wrong for example a meter may overshoot making you turn the gain down thinking the level is too high or a meter may fall short making you turn the gain up thinking the level is too low )
 
Klanghelm seem to have got this sorted though. It is not perfect but very very close.
 
You can also learn a lot watching how a meter dances to the music. Really nice mastered tracks make a VU move a certain way. Your tracks will often move nothing like it so you have to take steps to get it there. With care it is possible to get a VU to dance nicely just up to 0 db VU and not go much over.  Tracks don't have to be squashed hard either to achieve this. A very dynamic track can also be organised to do this.

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

Whatever you do, don't use any Fabfilter plug-ins
 
https://www.youtube.com/r...query=fabfilter+master
 
Sorry, I thought you said mastering, I was going to go to Izotope? But then I saw you still said Metering? So I went with Izotope anyway...
 
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mixing-mastering/insight (but it's not like 5 or 6 bux...)

Here's another freebie...

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

Please post more metering plugins.

here is  a freeware one : http://www.mzuther.de/en/software/kmeter/ 
use Normal, RMS and Peak....  hit Expand for a more detailed level.  

Some metering plugins seems to be " off by " -3 db " less reading.
There's a difference in LUFS and RMS reading. one use square pulse reading another use sine wave reading.
thats why we get the -3 / +3 db diffrence.

Personally i like the RMS reading, as an accurate metering.
Like the wavelab and K-Meter reading.

This is LUFS reading : http://www.klangfreund.com/lufsmeter/  showing -3db less than actual reading
of wavelab RMS metering. Using this meter will make you mix 3 db harder than ordinary rms !
so lets say u mix with it and go for -12 LUFS, you actually have -9db RMS level atleast, just for the record.

Cakewalk need to get a meter like the peak and rms meter in steinberg wavelab
(Best meter i know of ) at present time.
It's one of the most basic mastering tools... 

Some Info : http://productionadvice.co.uk/lufs-dbfs-rms/ 


EBU R128 / LUFS
EBU R128 / LUFS : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuEtQqC-Sqo 
-23db LUFS as standard !!    Crazy ..... that will be like -20db rms ?  way to low you ask me !
if they had said -15 LUFS, i would agree.
 

I prefer it around -12db rms, for Acoustic / singer & songwriter / classical etc.
for punchy music maximum down to -9db RMS, for Pop / Rap / Rock music etc.

Below -9db dynamic range, audio start to suffer in detail, clarity, and it also start to distort
also start sounding harsh and hard mid ranged as more and more as you push it. 

Jan S K
 

Keep em coming ;-)