#Level meter to use with fldigi how to#
#Level meter to use with fldigi free#

In this article, I'm going to run through a few strategies for getting the best out of Cubase's built-in level meters, and will recommend a few free or inexpensive plug‑ins that can help you plug the gaps where Cubase falls short. It's perfectly possible for there to be material that doesn't register as clipping on a conventional peak meter, yet will distort when run through a D‑A converter, as the converter 'draws' the the peak of the curve represented by the digital audio signal. You also need to know where any meter is taking its reading from: is it at the channel input, before all the insert slots, after the inserts, or after the fader? It makes a huge difference!Ī final thing to say about peak meters in general is that they're quite a blunt tool and won't always tell you if a signal is going to clip. Cubase doesn't include such meters, but it's easy enough to add third‑party plug‑ins to do the job (I'll discuss a few options later). In other words, you could have two channels, both with the same meter reading, but one much louder than the other or one signal only reaching ‑20dBFS and the other reaching 0dBFS, but the ‑20 one actually sounding louder! To monitor loudness, you need a different sort of meter that works on average levels - a VU or PPM meter. Even the briefest, inaudible transient can clip without you really noticing, and it may be that the average level is actually quite low. They're tweakable to some extent, as I'll explain later, and setting them up so you know what they're telling you is important.īut however you calibrate them, such meters tell you very little about how 'loud' things are. In Cubase 5, the channel level‑meters are digital peak meters: they show you how near to clipping the highest peaks of each track are, and if they clip, there's a 'virtual‑LED' indicator at the bottom of the meter that will remain red - an indication that you should pull things back a bit.

It's this I have in mind when talking about clipping in this article.

But when you bounce any processing down to 24-bit (or maybe 16-bit) files, or when the signal passes through any A-D or D-A conversion stages (if you're using external effects, for example), the audio file can't store all that information - and you'll end up with clipping. When I say 'clip', Cubase doesn't actually clip the signal during processing: its 32- or 64-bit engine can accommodate much higher levels.

#Level meter to use with fldigi how to#

Knowing how to interpret and act on Cubase's level meters can help you to make better mixes.Ĭubase allows you to change the appearance and behaviour of its meters.Įvery DAW package worthy of the name includes digital peak meters, whether in a mixer, on individual channels or both - but how often do you actually use them for anything more than an animated red and green light show? Paying more attention to your meters - and looking beyond simply where they 'clip' - can lead to better mixes.