Loudness Meters in use - a roundup of some of the best

[@NinjaTrackProductions]

Thanks for the great articles and video on "loudness." I wasn't aware that there were tools available to quickly guage my compression damage until seeing the video. The information came at perfect time since I'm in the process of mastering my first project. The donation to pleasurizemusic is not a concern to me. The tool is well worth it. Thanks again Ian!

[@lukepalmer4200]

Plugin alliance have the Bx meter for $9 this week so gonna have that and the VU meter from klanghelm. Love your videos and podcasts find them very insightful and worthwhile

[@doziermuzic]

wow I get so inspired after watching your vids. Can't wait to get back to the studio.

[@jfilbert]

Thanks for the informative post. I've been using the Toneboosters TB_EBULoudness meter. Comparable to the meters you've shown here, for 20 Euros.Also the Klanghelm VUs in your video are great. I learned on old skool VUs as well- still very useful. Cheers-

[@SoundsFromSound]

Excellent video. Great content. I especially liked the fact that you mentioned the 1770 changes. Thanks for sharing this.

[@TheVintageCustom]

Totally agree. The TB EBULoudness is a great plugin. Identical readings to Nugen's VisLM-H. But now they have made it so that you can zoom in on the graph. Just set it to a longer time and zoom in to older areas. Still it'd be nice if they followed the MeterPlugs LCAST, which allows the vertical scale to be moved at will. ToneBoosters do allow the scale to be changed enough to see even modern destroyed stuff (ala Lady Gaga).

[@joep.3034]

Very nice Ian, I love the Klanghelm VU. Bought it today and am excited to making friends with it.

[@tekis0]

Wow! I'm SO glad I saw this! I have the Nugen Meters, but wasn't quite sure how to approach using them. Now, I've got a clue. The first band, Betatone Distraction, sounds great btw. Can't believe how LOUD the RHCP track is!! And yes, that will distort a lot of playback systems. I'm a little shocked because of who produces their records isn't a dummy. Funny thing is that it doesn't sound that much louder, here on KZbin, so I wonder why they would do that and sac rice sound quality?! Finally, I agree that the new loudness standards are going to save up from the insanity. Records with more dynamic range a much better chance and crazy loud program will get attenuated.

[@kataplumf3086]

This is great Ian. Thanks a lot. For what I can understand, if you limit peaks around -0,5db and use Klanghelm VU meter trimmed @-10db to drive your song loud sections about there, then you'll have a dynamic range goal of about 10db (which is not squashing much, and I don't expect very high intersamples). Assuming the mix is well balanced along freqs it sounds to me that this and ears is all you need, isn't it?

[@imboot7076]

"BS.1170-2" is what you call the standard at 9:50 in the video, and it was actually "BS.1770-2" at the time. Nonetheless, very informative video, as always. Thank you.

[@Tehstroyer]

Since there was about free loudness meters, PSP Audioware have released a free Vintage Meter, which is your typical oldschool VU/PPM meter. It's pretty old, though and hasn't been updated for quite a lot of time (I think), but you may try it - it could work. It isn't really on their main website, though (probably decided it's not really worth supporting and updating it to - only guessing - 64bit or newest Mac OS). It's still on their servers and after googling, you can find it.

[@corypilgrim7477]

Good Vid, i enjoyed the detail on each plugging n now i now have a little bit more of an idle of whts to come. Thks Ian

[@ChannelJoeE]

Hi Ian. Just a short question. I work as a post production audio mixer. I have both LM6 and Nugen VisLM at my disposal. So, not so much to do with music. In any case, I've always been using LM6, but thought I'd take a look at Nugen. For some bizarre reason, the difference in huge. The the same mix, LM6 is showing program loudness of -24dB, while Nugen consistently shows -27dB regardless of which setting I dial it in. Do you know why there is such a difference?

[@zemekiel]

I don't get the prices of some of these plugins. Klanghelm makes awesome plugins and sells them at a very reasonable price. Love their VU meter, compressors and saturation plugins!

[@IntheDAW]

i love that klanghelm meter bought it a few weeks ago along with there new compressor both gold in my opinion

[@Bluescobra]

It's funny how everybody stresses out the need for the artists and producers to have a great dynamic range. Yet most of the tools avaiables are expensive, especially for small musicians like me. Since this video was posted in 2012, have you tried new great VSTs similar to these ones ? Thank you very much for this video and your help !

[@YesterdaysHeadlines]

Thanks for taking the time to make theses vids, they're of great help.

[@matorbeck]

Another great video, Ian! I have learned so much watching these, and I greatly appreciate it. I was wondering if you have used the Blue Cat DPMP meter. It is inexpensive and I wonder what your thoughts on it were.

[@matorbeck]

***** I am not familiar with R128. Is that a broadcast requirement? I am looking for a good metering plugin for pro tools 11 that will work without the wrapper and be able to get the DR values, which from what I have learned from you (if I get this right) is similar to the crest factor (but there is a difference?). At any rate, if you happen to try this plugin out, I would love to know what your opinions of it are. Thanks for sharing this information, Ian! It is like being in a virtual classroom.

[@matorbeck]

Plus at $66 US, it is the least expensive meter I could find.

[@PolarityMusic]

What i really dont understand is, how can you measure "loudness" on the overall frequency spectrum? I tend to produce sub bass oriented music, when im having a long 40hz sinus and not much going on in the rest of the frequency spectrum, i get easily -4db rms. and it doesnt sound loud or distorted at all. is this measurement based around a even distributed frequency range or whats the reference point of the measurement? thx in advance

[@PolarityMusic]

+Ian Shepherd ah! thx for answering!

[@kamalsaigal6062]

Where's the answer? Did he delete it? What can be that embarrassing!

[@DavidBoura]

I wanna know too?

[@kamalsaigal6062]

Well he was caught kissing a faculty last week but they thought it was a student, so, all is good now

[@GaBriELGioRdaNo]

I like the song you recorded in the sequencer at 7.35......where can i buy/download it ? Thank you !

[@TonyGeestudio]

thanks for the insight....i got the tt meter...and it helps me a lot.

[@TheAerovons]

Ian, my head is spinning with trying to get a grip on all this. I do a lot of commercials for TV, but also get hired to do music that is released on CD. I just got the Klangheim meter....so if I keep all my mixes at around 0 VU on this meter, I should be good for all purposes? When I first brought the meter up into a session where I had a mix it was WAY over zero (I had a really loud mix going, but that was typical for me). Thanks!

[@kaveiros75]

Really nice video… Well made and quite informative! Thanks a lot about it!

[@Itsallgoodtogo]

Can you use the TB EBU Compact to get your: -Loudness range -Overall Loudness -True peak levels It seems to me that just the demo version is enough to monitor all of the above why would I need the full version? I want to use it in Adobe premiere CS5.5 on a 30 minute long project. Can't find any decent user manuals on the internet. There are lots of acronyms that I can decypher from the screenshots. Like Integrated SI, Short SL, MLk, SLk. Lots of usefull information that I would otherwise have to pay in this video :) Awsome work. Maybe a new video for the new plugins :) ?

[@daiwalters]

Superb, Ian! Really inspirational advice. Thank you. A few things. The Brainworx Bx meter does show different values to the TT ( I'm running the TT in the 32 bit bridge in Logic). Which one is more accurate? Also, tried the Klanghelm on -10 and the Toneboosters EBU loudness. Which plugins would you say give the "healthiest" data? My last track (tested on the offline TT meter) had a dynamic range of 14.

[@daiwalters]

Thank you! :)

[@NMG-Digital]

Very thorough and interesting presentation; Thanks!

[@w.c.taylorjr.9635]

I like

[@w.c.taylorjr.9635]

Don't know what to think yet.A over easy limiter compressor does a pretty good job.

[@CharlesK441]

I have a quick question. Have you come across the new meters in Cubase 7.5? What are your thoughts?

[@Metasonica]

Very useful overview. Thank you for this.

[@SynapticMachines]

Thank you for putting this together. Very informative. Thx!

[@codemiesterbeats]

all this I find confusing, combining it with mixing etc... I am wondering do I need to mix to a these levels or only worry about the way these values look once I go to compression etc...?

[@Richard_P_James]

Ian - I've be referencing commercial tracks whilst working on an EDM project and, try as I might, there's just no way I can get my 'home' masters as loud. That's not such an issue as my project is creating drum/perc loops for a sample pack. But in Logic 9, and with all faders at unity, the commercial reference track was peaking way over the master buss 0dB. But I couldn't detect any digital clipping. I'm assuming this is because my Logic project is at 24bit. I usually aim for -0.2dB on the master buss, but I'm now not sure if the meters are really giving me a true reading for the peak level. The loops will stay at 24bit in any case.

[@danieIlondon]

L2 Ultramaximiser

[@Richard_P_James]

***** Thanks Ian - will take a look. R

[@fr.pioadamonis6346]

when I master my mixes, I use Ozone 5, which shows me my RMS level. What is ideal setting?? (-15,-10,-6) ??

[@balancetvi]

***** Thank u

[@matrixate]

Curious why the Melda MLoudness didn't make the cut. It's kind of a little of everything demonstrated here.

[@studiodebras]

+1 for the Melda Loudness Meter. The latest version includes PLR and Crest Factor metering in addition to Peak, True Peak, Short-, Mid-, and Long Term Integrated LUFS metering. And it's free..!

[@UltraSteaKME]

Hi, such a great video thanx a lot ! but, I must point that about the red hot chili peppers song, the mixing engineer was andrew scheps, who is known to give mixes without dynamic to the mastering engineer, who, as a result, has no room left to work on... also, the mastering engineer could at least lower the overall level to not exceed the true peak by 3dB... both guilty ! :)))

[@luca_distortedtherapy]

great review! Thanks for posting it

[@DavidHughesShineOnStudio]

What are your thoughts about the iZotope Insight?

[@Gemylon]

Great Video ! Thanks a lot for your contribution.

[@JamesBermingham]

Great information. Thank you.

[@turntjones8340]

lol "weird hair loss trick" in his youtube suggested ads haha

[@UlfLindholm]

Great info - thanks!

[@Partyywizard]

So if we want our RMS values to be around -20 (K style) do we still want our peaks to reach close to 0 db? That maintains a SIGNIFICANT difference between the highest and lowest amplitudes. This is what I have been trying lately in my own mixes but I find it difficult. Should I still be trying to reach close to 0db even while maintaining such a low RMS value?

[@joaobem1]

***** When someone talk about the K20, K12 , K14 is the same as dynamic range?

[@joaobem1]

***** Oh ok, thank you very much. I really apreciate.

[@j7ndominica051]

The digital readout of the Audiocation meter is difficult to read until it has settled. It also doesn't show anything above -14. I noticed that the integrated reading on the Audiocation drifts apart from other meters by a small amount, around -0.3 db per hour. The VisLM is the most practical. All modern TC plugins are ugly, since they've caught the flat design bug. The old TC Works Native series had much more pleasing design. I wonder why isn't there built-in percpetual metering in Reaper yet. They'd probably make it efficient enough to add no more than 100k to the program's size. All other vendors were quick to get R.128 feautures in their products.

[@666tonsofsquirrels]

Awesome, thank you!!

[@saschabudko]

21:00 Well, if I ran -10dB RMS signal through my VUMTDuo meter calibrated to 10, it shows me +3, not 0. Maybe you wanted to say peaks of about -10dB? Just wondering. Thanks.

[@iandyha]

take a look into the clarity m by tc electronics

[@Mtaalas]

If you do, please release that as open source? :) (but one cannot release VSTi compatible plugins as open source since EULA from Steinberg prevents that)

[@ragantengblas]

how about PSP VintageMeter? its also a VU meter, and its free.

[@Mikeroo8]

Thanks!

[@logiclock9483]

great video

[@trebo70]

I have the Waves Dorrough meter. Haven't been too impressed by it since it doesn't show the dynamic range. Maybe I'm not reading it correctly.

[@gameplanz1342]

I was impressed by wav before but ...i found others that make great pluguins for audio ...i compared Dorrough with other rms meter on same track then i found that waves uses their own values lol

[@DonClassico]

very useful tutorial

[@JulesStoop]

Nice :) Reminds me of Rush!

[@Gemylon]

PSP VintageMeter don't work with Mac OS 10.7. PSP say they are working on an upgrade ...

[@ustino85]

Loudness Meters in use - a roundup of some of the best

[@AmpsforBuddha]

Thank You!

[@SuperT235]

interesting Video, thanks!

[@californiamusic]

What song is that at 16:00 ? Thanks!

[@TheOrfeo9999]

great ! thank you :)

[@FalconTvUs]

this video is very well

[@andreas-franke]

Please test the free MLoudnessAnalyzer from Melda! What do you think about it? I think it's great. Specially in comparsion to the, as I think, totally overpriced Meters from the big players.

[@sublowsubstep8632]

Mike Jordans On My Feet #23 🎼

[@CorbbinGoldsmith]

okay, I'll need to learn how it works. If you tell me how it works or anyone tells me, I will make an open source version, no fancy UI unless I have the time though. Anyone willing to collaborate will be much appreciated.

[@-electron7]

Free Plugin, Proximity?

[@richardcruzjr]

Rick Rubin is the producer and has a hand in mixing. He's not the mastering engineer. Vlado Meller is the mastering engineer, currently mastering at Masterdisk in New York City and he mastered the last 4 RHCP releases.

[@UKHLover]

I like when maximum RMS is -15dB.

[@one1byke]

"The Klanghelm VUmt." NICE.... ballistics.

[@Suvorupaofficial]

Nothing's free 😞😭

[@mattglass4125]

VOXENGO SPAN is great and is free

[@CorbbinGoldsmith]

for that much, I can program one myself.

[@Mtaalas]

Damn... over 500 dollars for the loudness meter... no thanks :(