The Industry’s Classic Metering Method
Whether you're tracking or mixing, the Waves VU Meter plug-in gives you the most tried-and-true metering in the industry. While digital peak meters have their place, they focus on the loudest moments in your audio. VU meters, on the other hand, mimic the way your ears actually work. This gives you a realistic representation of how your mix is perceived. Benefit from unparalleled smoothness and hardware-accurate ballistic response. Use VU Meter on individual tracks, or instantiate it on your master bus for precise feedback on your mix's overall level. Either way, you'll inject your recordings with generous headroom and a well-balanced gain structure.
Related Videos: VU Meter Virtual Metering Plug-in
VU metering — a better way to track and mix
VU meters have been around since the dawn of the recording industry and are the cornerstone of analog level monitoring. During the migration from analog to digital in the 1980s, full-scale peak meters became prominent, and VU meters fell out of favor (anyone who's ever exceeded 0dBFS knows why that is). While they're indispensable in this digital age, full-scale meters don't tell the whole story. Their ultra-fast response doesn't represent the way humans actually perceive audio. That's why pro engineers still use VU meters. As for avoiding the dreaded 0dBFS clip, that's why you calibrate your VU meter to a digital reference level. That way, if a -18dBFS test signal is displayed as 0dBVU on the meter, then you have 18dB of headroom to play with. The engineers at Sweetwater have long known that VU meters measure what you actually hear — trust them, and you'll enjoy ample headroom, avoid digital clipping, and forge a new relationship with the dynamics of your mix.
Waves VU Meter Features:
- Classic console VU meter design gives you the most tried-and-true metering in the industry
- Mimics the way your ears actually work rather than focusing solely on peaks
- High refresh rate allows needle movement to accurately reproduce the action of an analog VU meter
- Headroom adjustment from -4 to -26dB calibrates to your DAW’s reference level
- Graphic display adjustment allows meters on different buses to appear time-aligned even if they exhibit different latencies
- Adjustable display size
- Clip indicator lights up when your signal reaches -0.009dBFS
- Displays both dB and VU meter scales
- Use on individual tracks, or instantiate it on your master bus for precise feedback on your mix's overall level
- Assures generous headroom and a well-balanced gain structure