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VU Meter Myths. Best practices in getting the clean sound

Francesca Ortolani
Ironbridge Electronics
Rome, Italy
darthzener@ironbridge-elt.com

ABSTRACT
The architecture of mixing consoles is the basis to
get into sound engineering. Schools introduce
students to the operation of each different stage of
the signal path, but too often they suggest
axiomatic sometimes coloured with myths -
procedures for the use of these devices, rather
than an aware, informed and fully independent
way to work. Most of confusion, misconception
and rough information concern noise, dynamics
and distortion and even the reading of a VU
Meter can be jeopardized. This paper is a short
tutorial with the purpose to inform about this
subject, through noise modeling and amplifier
trans-characteristics.
1. INTRODUCTION

This tutorial is addressed to student sound
engineers and its purpose is to clear up with the
employment of VU/Peak meters on amplifiers and
mixing consoles. During soundcheck sound
engineers are told to bring the input signal level
up to 0 dB on the analog mixers VU Meter or
Peak Meter. The reason usually reels off like this:
At 0 dB you have the best signal-to-noise
ratio.
One of the goals of this article is to show that
theres no such a relationship between best SNR
and level 0 VU (also referred to 0 dB) on the
meter.
What is noise? Noise may be considered as
anything additive but the signal we intend to
process. Going into deep, we distinguish what its
really called noise from disturbing signals. The
latter can be removed or at least attenuated and
include onsets of phenomena such as
electromagnetic interference, coupling by
parasitic capacitances and induction. Noise is
intrinsic to material when subjected to
temperature T > 0 K and it can be described only
by random processes.
Such forms of noise include Johnson, Shot and
Flicker noise. Noise at different insertion points
throughout each single stage on the signal path
can be condensed into random voltage or current
generators connected to the remaining noiseless
network (Haus & Adler theorem) as shown in
Figure 1.

Figure 1 Haus & Adlers noise representation [1]
Figure 1 shows in particular how noise is always
present even though input is short-circuited or
open [1]. Noise voltage and current are random
quantities, so its best to manage noise in terms of
power (integrated over the bandwidth on which
the noise is measured, so each noise generator has
dimensions
2
V
Hz
(
(

and
2
A
Hz
(
(

) and thats why
the respective generators in the figure are
indicated by mean squared noise voltage and
current.
2. SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO

What is Signal-to-Noise Ratio? SNR can be
defined as:
2
SIGNAL SIGNAL
NOISE NOISE
P A
SNR
P A
| |
= =
|
\


2

where P is the average power and A is the
amplitude when signal and noise are measured
across the same impedance.
Signal-to-Noise ratio can be expressed in dB as:
10 10
10log 20log
SIGNAL SIGNAL
dB
NOISE NOISE
SIGNAL dB NOISE dB
P A
SNR
P A
P P
| | | |
= = =
| |
\ \
=

Figure 2 shows a generic device. Signal-to-
Noise Ratio is generally different at input and
output ports. If this device has gain G, input noise
can be defined as:
OUT
IN
N
N
G
=
and it represents the so-called floor noise.
The output signal is of course:
OUT IN
S G S =

Consider an ideal multi-stage device, such as a
never-clipping mixing console (distortion will be
introduced later). Figure 3 (page 3) shows a 3-
stage signal path: pre-amplifier (gain), channel
amplifier (channel fader) and master amplifier
(master fader). A signal generator
S
v (including
its source resistance
S
R ) is connected to the pre-
amplifier (stage 1). In Figure 1
2
TS
v represents
the thermal noise generated by
S
R .
This circuit can be simplified by transforming
all noise sources as Thevenins equivalent voltage
generators as shown in Figure 4 and 5 for a
generic stage k:
( )
( ) ( )
1
1 1
ek S k
Nk Nk Nk TS k S k
R R
e v v i R

= + +

The resulting power gain for stage k is:
( )
( )
( )
2
2
1
1
/ /
INk
k mk Ok IN k
INk S k
R
G g R R
R R
+

| |
| =
|
+
\

where
Ok
mk
INk
i
g
v
= is the transconductance for
stage k.

The mean squared output signal is:
2 2 2 2 2
1 2 3
OUT
S
S v G G G =
The mean squared output noise is:
( )
2 2 2 2 2
1 1 2 3
2 2 2 2 2
2 2 3 3 3
4
OUT S N
N N
N kTR e G G G B
e G G B e G B
= + +
+ +

where B is the bandwidth over which noise is
measured, k is Boltzmanns constant and T is
temperature (generally 290 T K = ).
The resulting SNR, referred to Figure 5, is:
2
2 2
2 2 3
1 2 2 2
1 1 2
4
S
OUT
N N
S N
v B
SNR
e e
kTR e
G G G
=
+ + +



Figure 2 Generic Device
Figure 4 Thevenins equivalent generator and
resistance for the k-th stage
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Tips to get a higher
OUT
SNR are:
- Having a louder input signal level
- Having higher G in all stages, esp.
1
G , if
2
Nk
e are fixed, the resulting decrease of
OUT
SNR with respect to
IN
SNR is of lesser
extent
- Narrowing bandwidth B to signal
bandwidth (obtained by filtering)
- Having low
S
R

(connecting a DI Box
between source and mixer does not help,
because the problem moves one stage
before).

Since bandwidth is included in the formula, its
clear that adding filters (Equalizer section) to the
path changes SNR as well.
Stages are usually not done all the same way. The
noisiest amplifiers are mostly found at the end of
the chain. So the lowest noise amplifier is placed
in the headstage position as it is supposed to give
the bulk of gain.

3. TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION +
NOISE

When taking distortion into account, we may
describe the systems behavior through Total
Harmonic Distortion (THD) and Total Harmonic
Distortion and Noise (THD+N).

THD is defined as:
2
1
n
n
P
THD
P

=
=

where
n
P is the power of the n-th harmonic and
1
P is the power of the fundamental frequency. In
a real system higher harmonics are a finite
number, as they decay to zero with increasing
frequency.

THD is also defined as:
2
2
1
n
n
V
THD
V

=
=

Both definitions are used in audio applications.
THD is given in percent as distortion factor or in
dB relative to the fundamental frequency as
distortion attenuation.

THD+N is defined as:
2
1
n NOISE
n
P P
THD
P

=
+
=

Figure 3 3-Stage Amplifier [2]
Figure 5 3-stage generic amplifier with Thevenins equivalent noise generators
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What is distortion? Active circuits are seat of
different kinds of distortion. In this article we
focus on harmonic distortion (HD) and
intermodulation distortion (IMD).
Harmonic Distortion
Harmonic distortion seems to be what worries
sound engineers to the greatest degree. First of
all its good to establish some definitions:
Signal dynamics: the gap between the quietest
level and the loudest level of the signal
Amp dynamics: the gap between the floor noise
level of the amplifier and the maximum level
accepted related to a certain THD percentage.
Another looseness in audio theories is often told
to student sound engineers as follows:
Input signal will be clipped, so keep it low
In reality its the output signal that will be
clipped! (Its apparent if looking at dynamics
issues from bottom to top of the signal path)
So, be sure the input signal is low enough to
prevent clipping even when gain is at minimum or
if its quiet at the start beware when raising up the
gain!
Which is the maximum level for low enough?
The measurement of THD is not an easy
enterprise without a proper instrumentation, such
as a spectrum analyzer or a specific
instrumentation with smaller THD and greater
dynamics than the device under test.
Clipping anyway is audible, so low enough is set
below the clipping level. Figure 6 gives a hint to
choose the optimal level for the output signal.
Figure 6 (b) shows that a real amplifier does not
clip abruptly, but the amps trans-characteristic,
after rising linearly, gradually deflects from
linearity and reaches an upper/lower limit thus
causing a compression of the signal right below
the ceiling and clipping when the limit is crossed.
Compression and limiting add higher harmonics
to the signal.
Intermodulation Distortion
Non-linear electronic devices, such as transistors
or diodes, may work as multipliers. The output
signal, because of the amps non-linear behavior,
is composed of higher order terms:
2 3
0 1 2 3
0
OUT n IN IN IN IN
n
v a v a a v a v a v

=
= = + + + +

L
So, for a composite input signal (e.g. sum of 2
Figure 6 (a) Asymptotic trans-characteristic. The picture shows how peaks above the limits are cut off (b) A realistic trans-
characteristic. An amplified signal is kept within the amps linear zone. Q indicates the amplifiers polarization point [3].
5

cosines):
1 1 2 2
cos cos
IN
v V t V t = +
) )

the output signal is:
0 1 1 1 2 2
2
2 1 1 2 2
cos cos
cos cos
OUT
v a a V t V t
a V t V t


( = + + +

( + + +

) )
) )
L

From trigonometry:
( ) ( )
1
cos cos cos cos
2
= + + (


( ) ( )
2
2 1 1 2 2
2 2 2 2
2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2
1 2
2 2
2 1 2 1 2 1 2
cos cos
cos 2 cos 2
2 2 2 2
cos cos
a V t V t
a V a V a V a V
t t
a V V t t



( + =

(
= + + + +
(

+ + + (

) )
) ) ) )
) )

Finally non-linearity produces:
- a term in 0 =
- terms in
1 2
, n m with n, m = 1,2,
- Intermodulation Products in
( )
, 1 2 n m
n m = with n, m = 1,2,

4. STANDARD OPERATING LEVEL
So, which is the relationship among SNR,
Distortion and VU Meters? The only relationship
concerns the reason meters were invented for:
metering the level of the signal. Measuring the
output level could be a way to get information
about the degree of THD in a given device and
backward information about the input signal level.
Beside this, monitoring levels is important in
order to feed the next stage in the audio path with
a signal of adequate level, for example connecting
the mixers master outputs to power amplifiers.
Input and output min and max levels are basic
specifications for all electronic devices, so the
need for standard levels arose.
A VU Meter is an indicator of the average
power of the waveform. The average power for a
periodic signal (with period T) is defined as:
( )
0
1
T
AV
P p t dt
T
=

where p(t) is the instantaneous power:
( ) ( ) ( ) p t i t v t =

For a purely resistive load average power can be
expressed as:
2
RMS
AV RMS RMS
L
V
P V I
R
= =
The ear integrates audio power over time, so
reading a VU meter would be quite natural in that
sense.
The Peak Power Meter (PPM) monitors the
power peaks of the waveform. So, even though
loudness information is not well-rendered, the
measure is more accurate in order to avoid
clipping. Because of the wide range of levels and
the highly variable peaks, the dynamic range of
the signal on a PPM is usually compressed
through a logarithmic amplifier prior to display,
so that the needles or the LEDs swings are more
readable [4].

The scales of VU Meters and Peak Meters are
mostly expressed in dB, since the perceived
loudness of the signal varies logarithmically with
signal power.
So, an increase of 3dB is easily translated into a
doubling of the power and so on.

Instrumentation has to be carefully calibrated
according to a particular standard.
Three renowned standard line-up levels are listed
below:
PPM4 = 0 dBu = 0.775 V RMS (UK broadcasters)
0VU = +4 dBu = 1.23 V RMS (commercial equipm.)
0VU = -10 dBV= 316 mV RMS (consumer/prosumer
equipm.)
Two examples of how Analog and Digital line-
ups are related follow:
0VU = +4 dBu = -20 dBFS (SMPTE RP155)
PPM4 = 0 dBu = -18 dBFS (EBU R64-1992)

Figure 7 compares all standard levels.
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Some useful definitions:

10
20log
1
RMS
RMS
V
dBV
V

| |
|
\

regardless of load impedance

10 10
10log 20log
1 0.775
RMS RMS
RMS RMS
P V
dBu
mW V
=
| | | |
| |
\ \
regardless of load impedance (u = unloaded)

10 10
10log 20log
1 0.775
RMS RMS
RMS RMS
P V
dBm
mW V
=
| | | |
| |
\ \
load resistance = 600 (Radio applications: 50
10
20 log
0.224
RMS
RMS
V
V
| |
|
\
)


Note: dB is referred to a dimensionless quantity,
for example:
( ) ( )
10 10
8
4
10log 8 10log 4
9 6 3
OUT
IN
dB
P mW
G
P mW
G
dBm dBm dB
= =
=
=


dBFS (dB relative to full scale) is an amplitude
relative unit in digital systems. 0 dBFS refers to
the maximum possible digital level (all signals,
whose peak levels cross this limit, will be
clipped). Peak measurements produce negative
numbers.
RMS measurements in the digital domain still
present some ambiguities [5]:
if 0 dBFS is assigned to the RMS value of a full-
scale sine wave, then a full-scale square wave will
be at +3dBFS (AES17-1998 and IEC 61606, e.g.
Dorrough meters).
if 0 dBFS is assigned to the RMS value of a full-
scale square wave, then a full-scale sine wave will
be at -3dBFS (e.g. Euphonix meters).
Remember, for a sine wave:
2
PEAK
RMS
V
V =
5. SUMMARY
VU meters or Peak meters on mixing consoles
assist sound engineers in monitoring respectively
the RMS level or peak level of the signal during
recording, mixing, live sessions etc.
Standard Operating Level has to be taken into
account, especially when working with different
categories of equipment (commercial or
consumer). The needle pointing at 0 VU does not
say SNR is the best: paragraph 2 explains that the
relationship among all parameters is more
complicated. When the equipment we use is not
known, bringing the signal to 0 dB could be a safe
area, since manufacturers should at least
guarantee a linear functioning of the device at
Standard Operating Level to make sure continuity
in the signal path is not compromised.

6. REFERENCES
[1] Hermann A. Haus, Richard B. Adler Circuit theory of
linear noisy networks, Technology Press of Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 1959
[2] W. Marshall Leach, Jr. On the Calculation of Noise in
Multistage Amplifiers, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and
Systems Fundamental theory and applications, vol. 42, no
3, march 1995
[3] A. S. Sedra and K. C. Smith Microelectronic Circuits
New York: Oxford University Press, 2004
[4] Richard Brice Recording Consoles, from Audio
Engineering Know it all, Newnes Elsevier 2009
[5] Euphonix System 5 Metering: Peak vs. Average, 2002
Figure 7 Standard Levels compared [4]