Go Back   Cockos Incorporated Forums > REAPER Forums > newbieland

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-22-2017, 07:43 AM   #1
BubbleBlaster
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 4
Default Reading the VU Meters and Pre-Mastering For Noobs

I have read the manual learned a lot of the software but cannot find anything about how to actually read these numbers. All I know is that seeing red is bad. Can you explain each one of these numbers in the red square and when making a -6db premaster which of these many 'number 6' am I looking at? The one on the top left hand track? What is the green meter to the right of that(yellow circle) and why does it jump to a different number from the level at the left?

https://i.imgur.com/ENNMfTP.jpg
BubbleBlaster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2017, 08:14 AM   #2
ashcat_lt
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 7,271
Default

The number in the red box tells you where you've set the fader.

The number in the yellow circle tells you the level of the highest peak that's gone through there since you pushed play. This is after any FX on the Master track and also after the fader.

These two numbers won't be the same unless the loudest peak is right at 0 before it hits the fader, and even then only after that highest peak has actually played.
ashcat_lt is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2017, 08:41 AM   #3
BubbleBlaster
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 4
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ashcat_lt View Post
The number in the red box tells you where you've set the fader.

The number in the yellow circle tells you the level of these highest peak that's gone through there since you pushed play. This is after any FX on the Master track and also after the fader.

These two numbers won't be the same unless the loudest peak is right at 0 before it hits the fader, and even then only after that highest peak has actually played.
So that first fader should be set to -6 when doing a premaster
and the green bars in yellow circle tell ne if it goes over -6?
BubbleBlaster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2017, 08:51 AM   #4
BubbleBlaster
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 4
Default

Why so many similar numbers in the master by the mixer? What do the number 6 one on top represent and the smaller 6 at the middle? Which line of numbers represent decibls?
BubbleBlaster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2017, 10:30 AM   #5
ashcat_lt
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 7,271
Default

I'd say if you want it to peak at -6, you'd set the fader wherever it needs to be so that the actual peak meter (your yellow circle) hits -6 at least once but never goes over. The number in the red box doesn't actually much matter in that case.

If you show a picture of your new question, it'd probably be easier to answer. The meter on the Master in the actual mixer has markings and readouts for both peak and RMS level, there are numbers on the scale so you can tell where the bars are hitting, the numbers at the top show the highest peak for each channel (L/R) that has played so far, and the numbers at the bottom tell you the highest the RMS has gotten.
ashcat_lt is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2017, 11:15 AM   #6
BubbleBlaster
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 4
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ashcat_lt View Post
I'd say if you want it to peak at -6, you'd set the fader wherever it needs to be so that the actual peak meter (your yellow circle) hits -6 at least once but never goes over. The number in the red box doesn't actually much matter in that case.

If you show a picture of your new question, it'd probably be easier to answer. The meter on the Master in the actual mixer has markings and readouts for both peak and RMS level, there are numbers on the scale so you can tell where the bars are hitting, the numbers at the top show the highest peak for each channel (L/R) that has played so far, and the numbers at the bottom tell you the highest the RMS has gotten.
So with this image at the bottom, keeping this master between 12-18 is optimal right? I'm assuming the numbers in the middle are RMS numbers? BTW, what does 'RMS' mean?

https://i.imgur.com/brKWjgF.jpg
BubbleBlaster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2017, 11:56 AM   #7
ashcat_lt
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 7,271
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by BubbleBlaster View Post
So with this image at the bottom, keeping this master between 12-18 is optimal right?
That's a deep, weird question that depends on what you're trying to accomplish and tends to breed very long contentious threads...

Quote:
I'm assuming the numbers in the middle are RMS numbers?
Yeah, looks like. I think you've got some offset applied there, too. If you right click that master meter area, you should be able to get to a bunch of configuration options.

Quote:
BTW, what does 'RMS' mean?
"Root-Mean-Square" which means the square root of the mean of the square of the values that have come through over some period of time. It's basically the average volume for the last little bit. By default, I think it's like 300ms, but you can change that too.
ashcat_lt is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 11:26 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.