To change the layout of the meters in the Channel Meters window, right click the meters, choose Layout from the shortcut menu, and then choose a command from the submenu.

Command

Description

Horizontal/Vertical/Auto

Choose a command to change the orientation of the meters in the Channel Meters window.

 

 

Stretch to Fit

Stretches the meters to fit the window.

 

 

Narrow Width

Toggles narrow- or normal-width meters. Using narrow meters can conserve screen space.

 

 

Interleave Peak/VU

Toggles interleaved or stacked display of VU/PPM meters with the corresponding channel meters.

 

 

Routing channels to hardware outputs

You can change channel assignments from the Audio tab in the Preferences dialog or the Channel Meters window. Changing the setting in either location updates your preferences and affects all open data windows.

To change a channel’s output device using the Channel Meters window, click the channel number and choose a new output port from the menu:

For more information on changing channel assignments in the Preferences dialog, see Audio tab on page 322.

Using the VU/PPM meters

You can display volume unit (VU) and peak program (PPM) meters in the Channel Meters and Hardware Meters windows to help you determine the perceived loudness of your audio signal (peak program meters provide faster response times to volume increases than VU meters). For more information on channel meters, see Using the channel meters on page 44. For more information on hardware meters, see Using the hardware meters on page 111.

VU/PPM meters are especially helpful when you’re mastering. Comparing two audio files’ VU/PPM readings will help take the guesswork out of matching levels.

Right-click the Channel Meters or Hardware Meters window and choose Show VU/PPM from the shortcut menu to toggle the display of the VU/PPM meters.

VU/PPM readings should fall near the 0 (or reference) mark. 0 VU is merely a reference level, and your signal may exceed 0 VU. To prevent clipping, keep an eye on your peak meters. Peak levels should never exceed 0 dB. You can use the Status tab in the Preferences dialog to calibrate the VU/PPM meters to their associated levels on the peak meters and adjust the VU meters’ sensitivity. For more information, see Status tab on page 320.

46 CHAPTER 2