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Old 02-11-2018, 12:02 PM   #1
RDBOIS
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Default How can I get more details (tick marks) in the VU Meter?

More details in the VU Meters.

Noobish question:

How can I get more details (tick marks) in the VU Meter, especially the Master Track VU meter?

I currently have: 0, -6, -12, -18, -24, -30, ..., -60

I'd like to have, ohhh I don't know, say: 0, -3, -6, -9, -12... etc.

Or anything I choose, really.

I feel silly, but I just can't find where to change the VU meter detail setting.

ANyone?

Thanks
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Old 02-11-2018, 04:37 PM   #2
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I can't answer your question, but with digital recording your levels aren't that important. Of course you can't go over 0dB when recording or you'll clip your ADC, and DACs, "regular" WAV files and CDs are limited to 0dB so you don't want to "try" to go over on your final master.

REAPER uses floating point so it has no upper (or lower) limit.

Pros often record at -12 to -18dB (at 24-bit resolution), but I think that's mostly "tradition" (maybe from when Pro Tools was integer) and nothing bad happens when you get close to 0dB. So anywhere between -18dB and 0dB would be OK.

When you get to the end you can normalize or analyze the "loudness", etc.
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Old 02-11-2018, 05:05 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by DVDdoug View Post
I can't answer your question, but with digital recording your levels aren't that important. Of course you can't go over 0dB when recording or you'll clip your ADC, and DACs, "regular" WAV files and CDs are limited to 0dB so you don't want to "try" to go over on your final master.

REAPER uses floating point so it has no upper (or lower) limit.

Pros often record at -12 to -18dB (at 24-bit resolution), but I think that's mostly "tradition" (maybe from when Pro Tools was integer) and nothing bad happens when you get close to 0dB. So anywhere between -18dB and 0dB would be OK.

When you get to the end you can normalize or analyze the "loudness", etc.
Well. I'm pretty sure I understand your answer.

But, the context of the question relates to knowing the exact levels of the signal - which is important when mixing. I use my ears to balance output signal of the instruments, but also liket to look at the meter. Reaper records the max peaks and shows them on top of the VU meter. Useful, but I find it difficult to estimate the peaks when they fall in between two tick marks (e.g. between 0 and -6 db). With more tick marks it would be easier. I resort to using other VU meters like TBProAudio's dPMeter to read LUFS values.

There just too much room between two tick marks for my own taste.
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Old 02-11-2018, 05:43 PM   #4
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I don't have an answer to your question, but you can make it easier to guess the level by dragging your meters bigger in the MCP. Select them all and alt-drag on the divider above the fader.
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Old 02-11-2018, 06:03 PM   #5
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Quote:
How can I get more details (tick marks) in the VU Meter, especially the Master Track VU meter?
ANyone?
Yes= can answer your question--goto prefs>track control panels>> set your min meter value to say something like -30db-- max@ 0db -- i set also set muf (meter update frequency) at 2x mixing/working sample rate (96hz in most cases here) + meter decay @ 300db psec.
Sortidz.
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Old 02-11-2018, 06:10 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bri1 View Post
Yes= can answer your question--goto prefs>track control panels>> set your min meter value to say something like -30db-- max@ 0db -- i set also set muf (meter update frequency) at 2x mixing/working sample rate (96hz in most cases here) + meter decay @ 300db psec.
Sortidz.
That doesn't add any dB indents to my meters here...
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Old 02-11-2018, 07:12 PM   #7
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Quote:
That doesn't add any dB indents to my meters here...
Lol--so you come knocking suggestions..heh that's ok... try theme settings as well ='theme has interlaced vu meters' =these tweaks do show greater resolution of peaks and rms/vu-- what else is op wanting?
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Old 02-11-2018, 08:04 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bri1 View Post
Yes= can answer your question--goto prefs>track control panels>> set your min meter value to say something like -30db-- max@ 0db -- i set also set muf (meter update frequency) at 2x mixing/working sample rate (96hz in most cases here) + meter decay @ 300db psec.
Sortidz.
That sure made thing bigger and easier to estimate.

No additional tick marks.
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Old 02-12-2018, 01:34 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bri1 View Post
Lol--so you come knocking suggestions..heh that's ok... try theme settings as well ='theme has interlaced vu meters' =these tweaks do show greater resolution of peaks and rms/vu-- what else is op wanting?
RDBOIS wants more dB markings next to the meter.
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Old 02-12-2018, 02:04 AM   #10
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Popular wisdom says that a difference of 3dB is about where the average ear starts to hear a discernible difference (yes we all know better than that) but I am wondering why you want more markings, other than aesthetics?
If there IS a way this can be made practical use of, I would like to know it.
Mind you if you think back to the old ballistic meters and VU etc, any markings on them apart from 0dB were pretty random in terms of usability!
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Old 02-12-2018, 09:37 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc View Post
Popular wisdom says that a difference of 3dB is about where the average ear starts to hear a discernible difference (yes we all know better than that) but I am wondering why you want more markings, other than aesthetics?
If there IS a way this can be made practical use of, I would like to know it.
Mind you if you think back to the old ballistic meters and VU etc, any markings on them apart from 0dB were pretty random in terms of usability!

I'll take 3 dB !

I currently have 6 : it's not a big deal, I'm just surprise that this is one of the things that can't be customize in Reaper?!

I started gain staging according to the EBU R128 standard and I'm trying to keep the peaks below -10 dB. I got to see where they are at... Now using TBProAudio's dPMeter, but would like to use Reaper's VU.

Last edited by RDBOIS; 02-12-2018 at 09:46 AM.
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Old 02-12-2018, 10:36 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RDBOIS View Post
I'll take 3 dB !

I currently have 6 : it's not a big deal, I'm just surprise that this is one of the things that can't be customize in Reaper?!

I started gain staging according to the EBU R128 standard and I'm trying to keep the peaks below -10 dB. I got to see where they are at... Now using TBProAudio's dPMeter, but would like to use Reaper's VU.
You can see the exact peak value at the top of the meter.
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Old 02-12-2018, 10:37 AM   #13
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O.K. For that purpose I guess it would make sense to have a little better visual aid.
I am using that TB meter as well - & very happy with it.
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Old 02-12-2018, 02:31 PM   #14
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--Use da force--

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