Waves VU Meter

The Waves VU Meter is an industry-standard tool that lets you reliably view average audio levels. Digital meters are great for showing peaks, but this analog VU meter's moving needle accurately reflects the average signal level of audio. This closely matches how our ears perceive musical energy, helping you understand perceived levels and achieve better mixes and masters. The main challenge for this plugin was achieving mechanical realism, and it's been met with the most accurate software emulation of the VU meter ever. Features include: averaging short peaks to show real - world dynamics, revealing audio characteristics for better mixes, being smoother than DAW meters, having an LED - style clip indicator above - 0.009 dBFS, calibrating headroom to your DAW’s reference level, offering scales for Volume Units and dB, using negligible CPU so you can insert it on as many channels as you like, and allowing you to choose the stereo version’s meter size (small, medium, or large).

Using the Waves VU Meter is easy. First, insert it on the channels where you want to monitor audio levels. You can add it to as many channels as you need since it uses very little CPU. Once inserted, it will start showing you the average audio levels. To calibrate it, set the headroom to match your DAW’s reference level. You can also choose the size of the stereo version’s meter according to your preference. When you see the LED - style clip indicator light up, it means the audio level is above - 0.009 dBFS, so you might want to adjust the input. Keep in mind that this meter averages out short peaks to give you a better understanding of real - world audio dynamics. There's not much maintenance needed, just make sure your software is up - to - date to enjoy the best performance.