Back in 2017 we asked Which Loudness Meter Plug-in Do You Use In Pro Tools? and a couple of weeks ago we repeated the question and poll. In this article we analyse whether loudness meter popularity and usage has changed during the last 2 years.
The Results
To create a readable chart we have split the data across two charts. If you want to access the detailed data for a particular loudness meter then hover over a pair of bars and a floating window will pop up with the data for that loudness meter…
Which Pro Tools compatible loudness meter plug-in do you use the most?
Notes
The vertical scale is different between the two charts.
In the 2017 poll, we did not include the Youlean Loudness Meter and Signum Audio BUTE Loudness Analyser meters.
In the 2019 poll, we did not include an ‘Other’ category.
What Has Changed In 2 Years
iZotope Insight, Waves WLM Plus, And Nugen Audio VisLM2
Although the top 3 haven’t changed you can see that the Waves WLM Plus and Nugen Audio VisLM2 have increased and the iZotope Insight has dropped so that all 3 are pretty similar with Insight just retaining the top slot. In 2017 it was suggested that Insight was in the top slot because it came bundled with iZotope products...
“Insight is free with a bunch of iZotope’s other very useful products. At this point, I don't know of a single facility in Hollywood that doesn't own a version of RX.”
and…
“Yeah, Insight is currently my option too for that reason, it came bundled with my RX 5 license.”
But as another community member pointed out…
“As of RX6, Insight is only included in the Post Production Suite 2 not RX6 Advanced.”
This might go some way to explain why Insight is no longer the runaway winner in 2019.
It may well be that the increase in take-up of Nugen Audio’s VisLM2 is due in part to the Netflix effect, combined with the news that Dolby quietly discontinued their Media Meter 2 loudness measurement software in August 2018.
Nugen Audio was very quick to insert the Dolby Dialog Intelligence Algorithm into their VisLM2 loudness meter and then to include a Netflix spec preset. They have since been followed by Signum Audio and iZotope.
Waves WLM Plus continues to be very popular and we suspect that this may be due to the price sweet spot, overriding the lack of a histogram.
The usage of the Avid Pro Limiter, which although primarily a true peak limiter also includes an R128 loudness meter, has doubled in the last 2 years, may show an increase in ‘multi-purpose’ tools, which would include the Waves WLM Plus that is a loudness meter, which also includes a true peak limiter.
Dolby Media Meter
Dolby quietly discontinuing their Media Meter in August 2018 is probably the main reason for the significant drop in the usage of the Dolby Media Meter.
Top Tutorials On Loudness Workflows
Nugen Audio has released the latest version of their loudness metering software VisLM. V2.8.3 brings 2 new features, one minor - a change to the Netflix stereo preset and one major - the introduction of Flags, which help to visualise Alerts and navigate through them. An added bonus is that whilst we were preparing the video tutorial showing the new features, we discovered an undocumented feature in VisLM from Nugen Audio that is really clever and will save you time and money and so we had to include that in the video tutorial as well!
At NAB 2019 on the Avid Stage, re-recording mixer for TV Scott Weber, who has mixed shows like Lost, Person Of Interest and Westworld, discussed how to mix TV shows to meet the different US broadcaster’s and Network’s delivery specs and how things vary from network to network and what impact that has on the mix and deliverables.
In this premium video tutorial our resident loudness guru Mike Thornton takes us through how to use the the TC Electronic LM1n loudness metering plug-in. The advantages of the LM1n is that it doesn’t take up much screen real estate and the LM1n’s simpler display also makes it ideal for multi-skilled staff and for use in other sectors like mastering for music streaming and albums.
In this premium video tutorial our resident loudness guru Mike Thornton takes us through how to use the two TC Electronic radar loudness metering plug-ins, the LM2n stereo plug-in and the LM6 multi-channel loudness metering plug-in.
With more and more music tracks being delivered on services that now use loudness normalisation, we no longer need to compress the life out of a song to make it louder than any other track, because tracks that are too loud will just get turned down. We can now enjoy tracks with some dynamic range. In loudness workflows there is a new measurement Loudness Range. Tom Frampton a mastering engineer from Mastering The Mix explains what Loudness Range is and how to use it to help produce tracks with an appropriate amount of dynamic range.
In this free video tutorial, with the support of Nugen Audio, our very own loudness guru Mike Thornton will show you how to use their LM-Correct 2 plug-in to produce multiple loudness compliant mixes for different delivery specs as well as repurpose content for use on different platforms.
In this free video tutorial, with the support of our friends at Nugen Audio, learn from our own loudness guru Mike Thornton how to use loudness differential monitoring using colour bands in the VisLM loudness meter to keep within loudness targets.
There is a wide range of Loudness meters out there now. In the last of our 3 part series on Overview - Loudness Metering Plug-ins And Resources we focus on loudness metering plug-ins aimed at the music mastering sector.
There is a wide range of Loudness meters out there now, so many that we have had to split them across 3 articles. In the second of our 3 part series on Loudness Metering Plug-ins And Resources we will be looking at the iZotope Insight, Avid Pro Limiter with built in loudness metering, zplane PPMulator Plus, which includes loudness metering and finish with RTW Loudness Tools.
In this free video tutorial, with the support of our friends at Nugen Audio, Production Expert team member Peter Barter demonstrates how to use the MasterCheck Pro plug-in to quickly A/B loudness and dynamics levels between your own tracks and trusted reference sources.
There is a wide range of Loudness meters out there now, so many we have had to split them across 3 articles. As we have loudness normalisation coming into more and more workflows, not just broadcast audio but music streaming services too, we thought it would be helpful to provide a round-up of the different players that are now available. We know it is not completely exhaustive but it covers the main players in the loudness meter plug-in sector. In the first of our 3 part series on Overview - Loudness Metering Plug-ins And Resources we look at the Nugen Audio VisLM 2, TC Electronic LM2n and LM6n, Waves WLM Plus and the free HOF 4U Suite which includes a loudness meter.
When a sound source increases in volume our ears and brains instinctively prefer the louder signal, so in the past it was difficult to accurately compare and make an objective assessment as to what the compressor or limiter was actually doing to the sound. Mastercheck from Nugen Audio solves this problem with a neat and easy solution that should help your decision-making process when added loudness may have clouded your judgment in the past.
In the last of this series on the Avid Pro collection of plug-ins, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers Looks at Pro Limiter, an indispensable tool for people wanting to deliver content to a specific loudness. A very capable brickwall limiter with loudness metering, for a full review look at Russ’ review for music mixers and Mike’s follow up review for post production.
This article contains a selection of video tutorials that cover Post Production Loudness in Pro Tools - The Loudness Handbook.
These tutorials are arranged in order of workflow.
In this free video tutorial, Mike Thornton covers in detail how to setup and use each of the instruments that only come in RTW Mastering Tools. These are the Vectorscope Instrument, Surround Sound Analyzer Instrument, Real Time Analyzer Instrument, and the multi-channel version of the Correlator instrument as Loudness Tools only has a stereo Correlator Instrument.
In this free video tutorial, Mike Thornton covers in detail how to setup and use each of the instruments that come in both RTW Loudness Tools and RTW Mastering Tools. These are the PPM Instrument, Loudness Sum Instrument, Loudness Numeric Instrument, Loudness Range Instrument and Stereo Correlator Instrument.
In this free video tutorial Mike Thornton covers the all the features that are common to both RTW Loudness Tools and RTW Mastering Tools, including how to set them up, either from scratch or by using one of the factory presets. In addition he covers how to resize the plugin window as well as configure and use of the buttons like Start and Stop/Reset. Finally he covers how to setup the standalone versions of RTW Mastering Tools and RTW Loudness Tools.
In this free video tutorial, Tom Frampton from Mastering The Mix covering how to use LUFS in music mastering and the need to create more than one master for different platforms. Over to you Tom..
Mike Thornton from Production Expert shows in this 3 part series of short videos how the growth of music streaming services and how they deliver music to the consumer is changing the way we need to mix and master content, especially for music streaming services. In part 3 Mike demonstrates the importance of True Peak metering and limiting and how they can help prevent the consumer getting distorted tracks.
Mike Thornton from Production Expert shows in this 3 part series of short videos how the growth of music streaming services and how they deliver music to the consumer is changing the way we need to mix and master content, especially for music streaming services. In part 2 Mike shows how the loudness wars have destroyed the dynamic range of our music and how loudness normalisation used my music streaming services is enabling us to bring back life into our music tracks.
Mike Thornton from Production Expert shows in this 3 part series of short videos how the growth of music streaming services and how they deliver music to the consumer is changing the way we need to mix and master content, especially for music streaming services. In part 1 Mike gives an introduction and takes a look at the history and how average loudness normalisation is changing the way we master music tracks.
Our friends at iZotope have produced a useful, comprehensive tutorial about how to master for streaming platforms. Whether or not you own iZotope’s mastering plugins such as Ozone, RX and Insight, there’s some great advice to be found here.
Are you working on an audio mix for Netflix but unable to use Insight because it hasn’t got dialog-gating and a Netflix preset? Worry no longer, iZotope has announced Insight 2.1 which brings a Netflix preset for all those working on Netflix content.
Primarily, I’d use the original Insight in post production and mastering. I might refer to it from time to time for mixing, but not as often as in other cases. This has changed with Insight 2, as the suite provides several improvements that make it a killer companion for mixing duties for me. In this article I will outline its killer features…
iZotope today has released RX Post Production Suite 3, a bundle which includes two brand-new product updates, RX 7 Advanced and the long-awaited Insight 2, as well as Neutron 2 Advanced, RX Loudness Control, and bonus content from Pro Sound Effects and Groove3.
The Experts team wondered what we thought people would want to find behind the windows of a dream studio advent calendar. Paul’s first choice is Nugen’s VisLM Loudness metering plugin.
In this article, Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe from Nugen Audio will be discussing something that he is regularly asked about at trade shows and conventions. “What is the difference between loudness and True Peak, and how do they relate to each other?” Here is his guide…
With the growth of music streaming services and how they deliver music to the consumer is changing the way we need to mix and master content, especially for music streaming services. In this article and free video Tutorial in conjunction with Nugen Audio, our own loudness guru Mike Thornton demonstrates the importance of True Peak metering and limiting and how they can help prevent the consumer getting distorted tracks.
As a bit of fun on the team we’ve challenged one another to this; you get to keep all the plugins supplied with you DAW but then you only get to keep one more plugin. Mike Thornton makes his choice.
With the growth of music streaming services and how they deliver music to the consumer is changing the way we need to mix and master content, especially for music streaming services. In this article and free video Tutorial in conjunction with Nugen Audio, our own loudness guru Mike Thornton shows how the loudness wars have destroyed the dynamic range of our music and how loudness normalisation used my music streaming services is enabling us to bring back life into our music tracks.
At IBC 2018 in Amsterdam, Nugen Audio will be previewing a significant update to its Loudness Toolkit on stand 8.D56. Loudness Toolkit 2.8 will provide a new loudness parameter, Dialogue LRA as well as new flexibility to simultaneously monitor multiple integrated measurements to support the new Netflix delivery specs.
Nugen Audio has released the latest version of their loudness metering software VisLM. V2.8.3 brings 2 new features, one minor - a change to the Netflix stereo preset and one major - the introduction of Flags, which help to visualise Alerts and navigate through them. An added bonus is that whilst we were preparing the video tutorial showing the new features, we discovered an undocumented feature in VisLM from Nugen Audio that is really clever and will save you time and money and so we had to include that in the video tutorial as well!
Whilst at IBC 2018 in Amsterdam we were able to get an exclusive first look at the new Loudness Toolkit suite of plug-ins including LM-Correct, ISL and VisLM which now has new presets for the new Netflix delivery spec with a new loudness parameter, Dialogue LRA as well as new flexibility to simultaneously monitor multiple integrated measurements.
In the second part of our new series - the A-Z of Waves highlighting Waves plugins and hardware, over the coming weeks we'll be presenting the series is both written and video form so you can find out more about Waves. This week it is B For Broadcast. In broadcast workflows, one of the most important topics, especially at the moment, is loudness so that listeners and videos don't have to keep diving for their remote control to adjust the volume.
In this tutorial video, Mike shows how you can use Waves WLM Plus to get your broadcast mixes loudness compliant to the appropriate BS1770 loudness delivery spec like EBU R128 or ATSC A/85.
In this review, Mike Thornton take a look at the new compressor plug-in from Sound Radix. POWAIR isn’t just another compressor, it is a two-stage loudness leveler and compressor plug-in with a number of features that set it apart from other compressor plug-ins.
In this video review Pro Tools Expert team member Dan Cooper takes a look at a very clever metering plug-in called LEVELS by Mastering The Mix.
This brilliant FREE plugin from Nugen Audio is designed to help you compare two different plug-in or two completely different process chains.
In this video review, I take a look at this Junger/Flux Loudness Management Plug-in developed from Junger's hardware solutions. Watch and see how Mike gets on with it and listen as he tries some tricky audio through it. If you are BVE then make sure you drop by theAspen Media stand G30 to see the Junger products for yourself and maybe win a Fitbit Charge HR heart rate and fitness wristband.
Mike gets the first sneak preview of the new Nugen Audio VisLM2 loudness meter. VisLM2 joins ISL2 and LM-Correct2 to make up the new Loudness Toolkit 2 that Nugen Audio will release at NAB 2015. Watch and see the new features Nugen Audio have added to VisLM to make it even better.
Following on from Russ's show & tell review of the new Waves Scheps 73 EQ, Mike takes a look at the other plug-in Waves have just released the WLM Plus. This is a new version of their established Waves Loudness Meter (WLM) and adds a True Peak Limiter and a Trim option, to their loudness meter.
In this video Mike offers a show and tell review of the new metering & visualisation plug-in from iZotope. Look out for his Groove 3 Insight Explained video tutorial series.