Production Wisdom

Music Production Techniques and Philosophy

What Does a VU Meter Do and Why It Is Essential For

a Great Mix
By JP | February 2, 2015

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In the modern times of digital music, we have many sophisticated metering options
available to us. Sometimes these modern meters can be a bit too much in visual and
numerical information. The solution: lets go back in time and look at the VU meter. You
might be wondering: What does a VU meter do and how can I use it to make my music
any better? Well, read on to !nd out

What is a VU meter?
The VU (volume unit) meter is not a gain reduction meter which are seen in compressors, even though they look
similar. VU meters are not peak meters either, such as the ones found in every DAWs mixer.

StereoChannel VU-meter by Sleepy-Time DSP

VU meters were originally designed for the analog world to visualize the average volume of a signal. Thats right,
a VU meter displays the average volume or loudness of the signal thats sent through it.
VU meters are very slow, so they dont respond well to quick transients. For this reason, VU meters dont show
available headroom like peak meters do, where the headroom is clearly visible under zero dB.
What does it show then? Lets continue

Why would I need a VU meter in my music?

As said before, a VU meter shows the average loudness of a signal. It shows the energy and intensity of the music.
In mixing, a VU meter shows the actual level of the mix.
One of the purposes of a VU meter is this: its healthy to have some kind of borders when mixing music. The 0VU
can be thought of as the border. But its not an absolute limit. Its !ne to go a little bit beyond 0VU, as it doesnt
hurt the mix in any way. Go too much, and your mix could su"er. Generally, 2-3VU could be considered as the
very limits.

The 0-3VU range is what should be considered as the limits.

The VU meter can be calibrated so the end result of the music achieves the loudness or average volume that is desired.
Personally, I use a VU meter on the stereo mix bus on every mix I do. As a result, my music has more consistency
in sound levels and average loudness; my mixes are at the same volume level every time and have similar, punchy
dynamics.
A VU meter needs to be calibrated to get the right results.

How to calibrate a VU meter correctly?

In order to calibrate a VU meter, we need to decide a nominal operating level which will equal to 0VU on the meter.

In StereoChannel, the nominal level is found by clicking the small drop-down menu button.
All VU meters have the same function.

In the digital world, a healthy signal level is about -20dB on the peak scale on average. There can of course be
peaks above -20dB, but to play safe, keep those peaks under -6dB. So think of -20dB as the average level of any
sound signal.
Lets say we would send a pure sine wave gain-staged to -20dB on the peak scale, through a VU meter. The VU meters needle would stay at 0VU if calibrated to a -20 nominal level. The sine wave always stays at the same volume
level, so its a good example.
If you calibrate your VU meter to a nominal level of -20 or -18, you will always have a nice amount of headroom
and your mixes will never clip, causing unwanted digital distortions.

The VU Meter In Action

The point here is to calibrate a VU meter for the stereo mix bus, and adjust the individual faders so the VU meters
needle would be dancing around 0VU. Do that, and youre already on the other side.
Of course, as a smart mixing engineer you would have gain-staged each instrument individually in the beginning
of a mix, according to the rules of the VU meter, and letting no channel peak above -6dB on the peak scale. You
can gain-stage each instrument to the nominal level of -20, which is the same level used in calibrating the master
bus VU meter.
Note that transient-rich, high frequency and fast material doesnt necessarily even move the needle on the VU me-

ter at all. Dont worry about it as its completely normal.

Sustained sounds such as bass will respond nicely to the VU
meter, because they have so much energy. As I said before,
the VU meter has a very slow respond time.
Its important to use a peak meter together with a VU meter for best results. If you use both correctly, youll get a
killer gain-stage and mix.

Dont pin the needle, just make it dance around 0VU.

Photo Credit: PSYJAZZPOP via Comp!ght cc

I pulled a recent mix of mine to FL Studio. Since I mixed it at a nominal level of -20, the VU meter
looks as it should, and the track has 10dB of headroom, which can be seen from the peak meter on
the right!

VU meters are very handy for judging bass levels of your mix. Lets say you have a kick, bass and drums mixed together nicely, the meter moving around 0VU. Then you decide to bring in the sub bass full of the very lowest frequencies.
In your room, you dont really hear the sub bass because of bad acoustics or too small speakers. What you do notice though, is that the stereo bus VU meters needle is now pinned all the way to the right, and this is a clear sign

to back o" the sub bass. So use the VU meter as an aid.

The other advantage a VU meter has it ensures your mixes will have enough headroom for mastering, because
like I said, it sets the limits for the level of your mix. If you let the VU meter help you and mix to 0VU at a -20
nominal level, you will have a nice, healthy mix with at least -6 to -10dB of headroom. The mastering engineer will
thank you.
Even though you dont see the available headroom on the VU meter, it doesnt matter. When calibrated correctly,
youll be swimming in safe waters. You can always double-check using a peak meter.

Awesome, VU Meters Rock!

VU meters are great tools from the analog era and a gift
for us digital musicians. Its so easy on the eyes as well, and
who wouldnt dig such analog vibe in their sessions than
what a simple VU meter brings?
Learn VU meters, live with them for a while and see how it
behaves towards your music and youll begin to understand
it.
Produce great-sounding music by having a VU meter as your
friend!

Photo Credit: Daniel Dreier via Comp!ght cc

Leave all comments below and Ill make sure to get back to
you.
(Psst Check out the great free MonoChannel and StereoChannel plug-ins from Sleepy-Time DSP.)
-JP
What do you think about the VU meter? Did you only use a regular peak meter before? Did you know about
di"erent metering options? Lets discuss!
Category: Nail Your Mix Tags: loudness , mastering , mixing , vu meter

10 thoughts on What Does a VU Meter Do and Why It Is Essential For a Great Mix

Kyle

Great info here. Ive done some sound recording and VU meters are great to have for a

February 4, 2015

variety of reasons. Thanks for the post.

JP

Post author

February 4, 2015

Yes, they are indeed. Great for setting up the input gain for recording instruments,
and of course mixing. No worries there!

Paul

Interesting stu" Ive seen that meter several times when Ive recorded in professional

February 4, 2015

studios, but now, having my own home studio, I just rely on everything inside of Logic

(which is the platform I use to record). This is an interesting read.

JP

Post author

February 4, 2015

Thanks Paul. Yeah, VU meters are everywhere in pro studios, especially in the mixing
consoles. Anyone can get by by peak meters (such as those in Logic), and VU meters

are a great option, both for recording and mixing, and also mastering.

Ian

Hi, I was just searching the internet for some sound equipment that I am after and your

February 4, 2015

site popped up. As far as VU meters go, in my opinion they are great for an instant vis-

ual feedback on what you are trying to produce. They can help balance sound and make sure that certain noise
levels (bass, treble etc) are not to high which could overshadow other parts like vocal or instruments. Thanks. Ian.

JP

Post author

February 4, 2015

Hi Ian, thanks for the comment. Indeed, VU meters are great for instant visual feedback on any signal or instrument. They are especially great for sound-staging before

recording or setting up a mix.

Adrian

Hey JP,

June 3, 2015

Thanks for the info on VU and Compressor. Will you be posting any info on EQ anytime soon?
Thanks

Adrian

JP

Hey Adrian,

Post author

June 3, 2015

Glad you liked my VU and compressor articles! An EQ article should be coming out at some point. Is there any speci!c info youd like to know about equalization?
-JP

Mick Lamm

Hi

August 31, 2015

Im using Studio One v3 as my DAW. I play a steel string acoustic guitar into a Duet 2

then into my DAW. Ive recently started using the VU meter from Klanghelm. I calibrate it to -16. When I record I
make sure the needle just hits 0. However on the peak level meters in my DAW the levels are up around -6dbFS. I
thought that by calibrating to -16 on the VU meters I should be seeing my peak meters averaging around -16 but
they are going much higher. Any advice around this would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Mick

JP

Post author

Hi Mick,

August 31, 2015

The reason why VU meters dont react to peak levels properly is because they are very slow. VU meters are good
for measuring the overall energy of the signal. Dont worry though, its okay to have peaks in your recordings, just
make sure they stay well below 0dbFS. For example, a VU meter doesnt necessarily react well to a transient-rich
hi-hat line from a drum kit, but it will show the average loudness of a fat bassline really well, because a bass has so
much more (sustained) energy which is picked up by the meter.
When you calibrate your meters to -16, it means the average level of your signal will hover somewhere around -16,
shooting o" peaks above and below it. Remember, the VU needle is too slow to react to sudden peaks.
The best method is to use both VU and peak meters. Use peak meters as a safety net to make sure, ideally, no
peak goes above -6dbFS. Hope this helps.
-JP