meters & luffs

[charles kasler]

I'm trying to switch over to luffs for metering. It doesn't look like CbB shows luffs. I'm trying Youlean's meter. Just curious what other people are doing for gain staging & leaving headroom for mastering? Thanks.

[bitflipper]

I use iZotope's Insight, but that's overkill and $$.

The Youlean loudness meter is probably your best choice, primarily because it's free. For $39 you can get the "Pro" version, which adds a few nifty features, but the free version is all you really need.

Another freebie that everyone should have is Voxengo SPAN. Although a spectrum analyzer, it does have decent metering and can be set for K-system metering. The K-system was a precursor to LUFS, and I used it for many years until EBU R-128 came along. The K-14 standard is nearly equivalent to the LUFS-14 standard.

[charles kasler]

Thanks! I thought about waiting until Insight goes on sale, mainly for the inter plug communication, but i read on another site that luffs is mainly for the final master buss & not for individual channel gain staging?  So I just continue with rms & peek db for that?

[bitflipper]

Yes, you initially focus on peaks for individual tracks, making sure they all have at least 6dB of headroom (preferably 12dB or more). Cakewalk will do that for you without any additional metering.

 

 

[charles kasler]

Thank you!!

[A Tolerable Quietude]

There is a free one called "SPAN" by Voxengo that I use for this.  Can set it to meter in a bunch of different ways.

[John Vere]

Most of these are free

I depend on the You Lean Meter because it is defiantly more sensitive to true peak readings. All the other meters will show exactly what you set you brick wall limiter to but the You Lean always catches microscopic overs.

Example. Brick wall set for -1.0 db  All meters/ analyzers  including Cakewalk will show -1.0 db. You Lean will show -0.8 or even -0.6 db.

The paid version is worth it's weight in gold. And I use it on not just masters but everything I do, including my Tutorials for You Tube.  The paid version allows Drag and Drop of any audio or movie files. in seconds you have your LUFS and the true peak reading.

You only need one instance on a project.  I always have it on the master bus but I can drag and drop any of the audio track in the project to it.  I will drag and drop my guitar and vocal tracks as I work to analyze what the loudness is. Loudness tells you a lot more than peak does. You can have a vocal track that shows it's almost over but the LUFS are only -20db.  A quick search for the peaks that are causing this,  pull them down,  and now the same track without a compressor is at -16db LUFS. Add a compressor and push it even more. 

Other real good analyzers I like, All are free from Plugins4free

Analista

MAnalyzer.  

Vox in go has a few, Span, Correlometer 

dpMeter5 

Krame

MS Meter

mvMeter VU2

ISOL8 - this is a new one for me and has become a favourite. 

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2023 by JohnnyV

[msmcleod]

I find Melda's MLoudnessAnalyzer more useful than MAnalyzer for LUFS, as it shows a summary of all the levels as well as the usual analyser window.

AFAIK this is also in their free bundle.

[charles kasler]

Another question, I have the Youlean meter as the very last plug on my master bus but that comes before the master bus fader. So it won't reflect raising or lowering the master bus gain? Am I missing something? 

[gustabo]

14 minutes ago, charles kasler said:

Another question, I have the Youlean meter as the very last plug on my master bus but that comes before the master bus fader. So it won't reflect raising or lowering the master bus gain? Am I missing something? 

Leave the master bus fader alone and adjust the gain at the very top of the strip in track view.