Erratic level meters

Before I check all my plug-ins to see if they're causing the problem,
has anybody experienced their audio track level meters (and sometimes audio instrument level meters) arbitrarily jumping up to +1.9 or +1.7 and can't get them to behave?
Thanks!

Hi Champ,
You might have *Pre Fader Metering* enabled.
regards, Erik.

Similar Messages

Multicam audio levels/meters??? - Premiere CS6

Is there a way to see the audio meters while in the multicam window?
The audio plays fine but is there really no way to monitor the audio to see if its peaking or not, or what level its at, unless I stop the multicam and play it in the timeline?
All the source clips, all the timeline clips, all the project window clips all enable the audio levels/meters.
Why not the multicam? Seems odd.

Audio is the other half of what editors deal with so I kinda do need to worry about it.
Agreed. Just not from the MC window, but from the sequence where you can actually make changes and adjust things.
Then why do the audio meters work when playing clips in the project window? Yes, the sequence is where changes are made but being able to monitor what a clip looks like or sounds like outside of the timeline is essential to any good NLE. It's not editing, it's monitoring. Just an oversight on Premiere Pro's design that I hope they fix asap.
Jim Simon wrote:
I'm starting to learn that you are the king of "that's not what I care about so it must not be important".
It's actually more often a "how can I get this job done with the tools and features that are available to me right now" kind of attitude.
While that's a practical approach and certainly one that will cut down on stress, that's also the mindset that allowed for companies like RIM (Blackberry) to fall behind their competitors. I prefer a more "work with what you've got but if something's missing or broken, speak up" approach. My hope is that the PPro design team actually listens to their users to make it better. We all have things we wish would improve or be fixed and if we all just said "eh, it is what it is" then nothing would ever improve. I'm more of a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it...but if it is, then stop making excuses and fix it". I know the absence of something as simple as audio meters doesn't mean mulitcam is broken, but its an example of an oversight on the part of Premiere's design team that I hope they fix. It's a very simple feature. Every other NLE I've worked with has it. It helps the workflow especially with long multicam sequences. There's no reason it shouldn't work like it does if you play a clip anywhere else. Now its just a matter of if they care enough to fix it.
Truthfully, I was hoping it was just a glitch with my computer and someone was going to chime in and say "it works for me" and I'd have to re-install or something and then it would work. But I guess not. We all work with the tools and features that are available to us right now, but if adding a functionality that should have been there from the beginning can speed up my workflow then I'll gladly be the squeeky wheel.

Level Meters on "Record Audio" have disappeared

I'm using 10.0.8 with OS 10.8.3 and yesterday connected a Blue Microphone Yeti as the Sound Input Device. When clicking Window>Record Audio, the window to select the Destination, Input Device, Gain and so on appears but the level meters at the top of the window are unresponsive. That is, the sound level scale is present but no green bars show input level. I can still record a voice-over fine, the clips appear in the timeline and the sound meters on playback display properly but yesterday the "Record Audio" meters worked and today they're gone. Any ideas on what I could have done to make them disappear?

So it doesn't sound like it's a hardware or drivers problem.
I updated to 10.0.8 and I cannot find a way to reproduce this. (But I'm not running 10.8.)
Try the trashing your preferences with Preference Manager.
Good luck.
Russ

Recording level meters

When tracking, what do you use for level meters? So far I've found the mixer view, but those meters are small. For tracking I'd like to configure Logic as close to a tape recorder as possible. Good meters + transport controls and nothing else to distract from the music.

Lots of choices - I favour InspectorXL, but I will also sometimes use the meters on the UAD Precision Limiter, Sonalksis FreeG, or Logic's own meters (although I don't really like these.)
Remember that we no longer live in the in the days of tape. The benefits of decent convertors and 24-bit recording is that we can leave plenty of headroom, know that we are getting a good, clean recording, without having to panic-watch for overs, making it less necessary to stare at the meters.
Given the choices, I'd pick up FreeG as it's free, and I favour InspectorXL for general metering (the Elemental Audio version, not the RogerTheDoger version).

A particular recording session shows dancing level meters but no output!

only this garageband project is behaving like this. i've opened other projects and listened to itunes and it all works. this particular project shows the level meters and compression lights and everything else as it's playing. each track shows it's producing sound. the master track is right in the middle as always. even the master track EQ analyzer shows something is playing. however, the level meter on the top right of the application is blank. it's turned up, but it's not showing a level. it's the only level meter/signal indicator light in the entire program that is NOT lit up. i cannot figure out where the problem is. i've restarted garageband, restarted my computer, saved the project as another name and re-opened it, etc. i'd open it in the old version of garageband but due to the AU's i've used, it would totally wreck the project. i suppose i could do it and have the AU's bypassed just to see if it plays, and then remix/remaster the whole thing. but i'd like to avoid that. any tips?

HI Bee Jay,
Thanx for the info. However i think it's not indicating audio level. ie it displays the same level for all tracks regardless of what level the actual track audio is!
They just click up and down a few bars on every channel that has any audio on it. It is almost as though they are monitoring a click or metronome level because it is very regular. It doesn't coincide with hard drive usage but is a similar regular pulse as that.
I have noticed that if there is no audio at all on a certain track then the level meter doesn't appear at all. Not sure if that's any help or not.
Many Thanx
Mark B.

Input Level Metering

I'm new to Soundtrack Pro, but have 10+ years of experience with Logic. I am attempting to record simultaneous audio on multiple tracks, each to a monaural file. My dilemma is that input levels do not display on the channel strip meters during recording (unlike Logic and most other DAW's) and am only able to see one meter at a time on the meter tab. Am I missing something?? How can I monitor recording levels all channels simultaneously? I can seemingly only have multiple meters displaying on the tab if I record to a multi-channel file on one track. UGH!

Hello. I think FCP isnt the right app for recording multiple tracks at once. I would propose a Sequencer like Logic or the new Sondtrack Pro pre.

Problem with levels/meters in logic pro 7.2.2

Hopefully someone knows the answer to my problem.
I've loaded a wavefile that is peaking at 0, very compressed, limited, mastered etc..
For some reason, the audio track level meter shows that it's peaking at -3, and -3 on the master as well.
If i run the track through a bus, it knocks off another 3db at the bus and shows up on the bus and the master at -6db
This problem is becoming very frustrating. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can you explain to me what the pan law setting means?
My guess is that it's something to do with when 2 mono tracks are made stereo they probably add 3 db per channel and need reduction? Just a hunch
I searched the reference manual but wasn't able to find it.
g5 2ghz Mac OS X (10.4.7)

My channel level meters are responding slow any ideas?

In logic my channel meters use to respond quick and perfectly with the input. Now the meters are lagging and responding super slow or just acting frozen in the off position.
This is terrible and I have no idea what happened.
It has work seemless for 2 years.
The only I did was install an update for the novation nocturn and it recaned my plugins. I cleared my logiclogin.plist but it hasn't help.
Any ideas to make the channel meters work?
thanks

Are all sites slow to load, or only some? If only some, give an example.

Soundtrack Pro 2.0.1: stereo level meters in the Meters tab? How?

I'm using Soundtrack Pro with an M-Audio Firewire 410 to do a live stereo recording. I've created a new audio file project, and I've only got two tracks in the project (left and right channels), but for some reason the Meters tab insists on displaying a 6-channel meter view, instead of stereo meters.
Page 49 of the Soundtrack Pro 2 user's manual specifically mentions a 2-channel (stereo) meter view (and even includes a screenshot), but I can't figure out how to get this view in my project.
What am I missing here? Or is this a bug?
Thanks!
Scott

I just went through this and it appears that my Focusrite Saffire was the culprit. I connected all the outputs on the focusrite according to the way the jacsk on the back were labeled and then set up the multichannel speaker setup to match. Then I went into STP, created a pink noise clip and panned it around, the LFE, center and rears were not in the right place.
I reconnected the hardware to match the 5.1 pan pot in STP then changed the multichannel speaker setup to match. Everything appears to be correct now but I would have loved to have been able to just assigned the output busses to correct outputs in the saffire.
Next step is to pan that pink noise around with my SPL meter to calibrate the room.

Erratic Recording Levels

I am having difficulty with erratic recording levels in SB 2.01. The sound card is an
Andrea USB pod.
This is what happens: I will record a 20 second sound clip, stop recording and copy and paste
the clip into another file. I will then record the another sound clip. The volume is often 20%
higher when recording the next clip.
I use the USB pod to record in Dragon NaturallySpeaking and to record into Soundbooth.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking automaticlly sets the pod's recording level to 81. When I lower it to
60 for use with SB, it is often too high (The level meters in the Record dialog box are in the red
area). Even when the level is lowered to 43, the level meters are often in the red area. However,
when I shut down and restart SB, 43 is often an appropriate level.
Are the erratic recording levels caused by the sound card driver?

Hi Durin,
I checked Dragon NaturallySpeaking to find out if there is an option to select which sound card can be used with it. I did not find any such option. I'm using a Dell XPS 420 that came with a "Sigma Tel High Definition Audio Codec" sound card.
I tested the Sigma card with SB. In the recording level dialog box, there are two controls: one for microphone volume and the other for microphone boost. With microphone boost turned off, the recording levels in SB are near zero. Only with the microphone boost turned up to the max of 20db are the recording levels in SB satisfactory.
Do I need a better sound card? I found some lower-priced sound cards that may result in good quality audio when recording in SB. Do you know if the following are decent cards:
(1) Creative Labs SB0880 PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Sound Card
(2) PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series
(3) M-Audio US41750 Audiophile 192 Hi-def Aud Card

Is pre-fader metering in Logic Express possible?

The manual says:
"Activation of Audio > Pre-Fader Metering ensures that the level displayed by the level meters is measured pre fader..."
But I don't have this option in Logic Express 7.2.3 - is this just me, or is it a manual misprint for a feature only available for Logic Pro?
Cheers
Powerbook G4 12 1.5GHz 512MB, iMac G3 400MHz 320MB Mac OS X (10.4.10) Logic Express 7.2.3

Logic Pro only.
"Express" = very limited version.
Cheers

Setting Input Level with Griffin iMic

I'm trying to digitize an audio cassette with Soundtrack Pro. My setup includes a Griffin iMic that goes to a USB port. The trouble I'm having is in controlling the input volume. The level meters indicate clipping, but I'm not clear how to set the input level.
If it's in the Recording tab (>Input) with the Gain slider, mine is greyed out.

I'm trying to digitize an audio cassette with
Soundtrack Pro. My setup includes a Griffin iMic
that goes to a USB port. The trouble I'm having is
in controlling the input volume. The level meters
indicate clipping, but I'm not clear how to set the
input level.
If it's in the Recording tab (>Input) with the Gain
slider, mine is greyed out.
M Wohlgy,
(I know this is months after your post.)
Control of the iMic volume is in the Preferences pane called "Sound". You can set the output and the input levels there.
Remember the iMic's position switch works only for the imput, either close to the microphone icon for "microphone" or away from it for "line in".
I use the iMic exclusively.
David

Low levels when recording?

Using a 1212m, recording from 1/4" line-in or from Host wave (ASIO 1/2), when the Patchmix Strip & Main Mix levels appear to be set just right, the recording software (SoundForge 9c or Cubase LE) shows peaks of only about 5dB. Is this normal? If I record at this level can I just Normalize afterward without distortion? It seems that clipping levels anywhere in the path would not be good, but I'd like to record the best quality signal possible. Any suggestions are appreciated.
By the way, are there any Plug-ins that allow Auto Levels in recording software?

>> May not be the same with Sigmatel audio, but with Realtek in XP, you have to have both the master volume and the wave volume up in the playback mixer. Have you tried adjusting the Wave level control? <<
Yes. For output volume, only the wave volume affects levels in Audition so I set it to maximum. The master volume changes loudness of the speakers but does not affect Audition's record levels per Audition's level meters.
For record volume, the "Line-in" slider affects audition level meters. I adjusted this to maximum.
With both output (wave) and record (line-in) sliders set to maximum, Audition's record level meters still show a maximum of about -30 db. When playing the recording back using Audition, the hardware speaker's volume knob has to be turned WAY up to hear the song.
Thanks for your reply,
Skyzoomer

Level Meter Plug In -VS- Output 1/2 meter...Inconsistencies...

I'm mixing an 18 minute long recording for vinyl release. The vinyl pressing company has a minimum dbl on recordings they master and press. If the level is under, they charge hundreds of dollars more to re master and increase the volume via massive compression.
So to check and double check the overall volume in Logic Express 8, all I can find for a meter is the "Level Meter" in the visualization plug in toolbox. So I have the Level Meter "plugged" into the Output 1/2 track...The problem with the Level Meter is that it is showing levels around 8 dbl lower than the Output 1/2 meter. This could potentially be an expensive discrepancy not to mention may have a negative effect on the end product's sound quality.

Eriksimon wrote:
If you used a meter as an insert, it comes, like other effects plugins, before the fader. Sorry, I didn't read attentively the first time.
Still, the effect is the same as pre-fader metering. The signal passes the meter before it goes to the fader. If you turn pre-fader metering on you'll see that your faders don't affect the channel strip level meters anymore and behave like inserted level meters as well.
So if you lower the fader on channel 1&2 so you no longer see clipping, how does it work?
1. Does it lower the output simply telling you that you are not clipping going out from fader 1&2?
or
2. Does it lower the input from all contributing channels so that the source coming to fader 1&2 no longer clips?

Input level - meter?

This might seem like a stupid question, but I need to ask it as the GB help doesn't explain it clearly. Where should one set input level for recording and where does one MONITOR that level via a meter reading (to check for clipping, etc)? This seems like such a basic need, so I'm confused to why it's not clearer.
I'm using an M-Audio FW410 which has it's own software mixer, but from their manual it seems the input level should be set from within GB.
I've experimented with the Recording Level slider in GB and even when it's not greyed out I'm not hearing a difference in signal, even if I turn it to 0. Do I actually have to go to the Sound control panel in System Preferences for this? I should mention I'm recording a "real instrument" track and my signal is coming through loud and clear.
The only two level meters I see from within GB are for each track's volume (which is just for mixing and/or monitoring while recording, correct?) and the master volume slider/meter at the bottom.
thanks,
Scott

The meter on each input should be reading at a sensible level: not over-peaking but not too low either. The main control has no effect on these levels, only on the final mix. For example, if the main control was at a normal setting, and you had a number of channels all at a high level, then they would add together and you would need to bring the final level down to prevent it over-peaking. The level should be set sensible at every stage.
You set the input in the GarageBand Preferences, so this will show what you are using. If you have your interface selected then the internal mic is not in use.

Erratic level meters

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for