Youlean Loudness Meter 2 - V2.5.2 - April 25, 2022 update

[EnochLight]

What about a clear set refund policy?

https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/

• Streaming presets
• Dynamic graph
• PDF export
• Readout focus
• Custom alerts
• Faster project saving
• Advanced settings
• Lifetime FREE updates
• 30 days money back

You need the refund policy to be clearer than that? I'm not sure how other than to add "guarantee" to the end of the last point.

[Compyfox]

You need the refund policy to be clearer than that? I'm not sure how other than to add "guarantee" to the end of the last point.

No further comment on this - but hey, smart commentary. #sarcasm
Ever heard of a thing called "general business terms"?


But don't worry - I reached out to the developer via Facebook, and he did answer some of my questions/concerns. In fact, he's currently in the process of updating his page and will respond to remaining questions on KVR soon.

Let's go from there, shall we?

[martinjuenke]

Please back to topic and that’s the loudness meter !

[bobhva]

No further comment on this

That would be to good to be true!

quote-on-quote

Actually the saying is: quote unquote

... and now back to the subject. I went ahead and purchased the pro version even though I have several metering tools that do the same thing as YLM. I like the fact that it incorporates the PLR dynamics graph into the plugin along side the other metering functions. I also think the developer(Julijan) has been great at listening to suggestions and plans to further develop the plugin and give updates for free to anyone who purchased it during this introductory offer. I also think that he has been very patient during these elongated personal attacks on his product and business practices. I say grab it for only $27 while you still can!

[Unidoubt]

Hi all

Is the PLR dynamic range metering working properly for you guys?

Cause all tracks I've played at it,
graphs up red barely hitting green in even the most dynamic of tracks.
Like adagio for strings & Tony Bennet and some of my unmixed live recordings.

Even the 1975 vinyl version of Queens-Bohemian Rhapsody
despite reading -24.2 LUFS integrated & TP -7.6dB over the whole track
in PLR dynamic graph view it's all dark red, like it's an PLR 9 crushed recording.

Is this a bug? or a scaling thing that's gone wrong - calibration?
I'm using it at default EBU setting.
Played over 10 tracks through, different genre's & they all got displayed as PLR 9-11 in the PLR-dyn view.
While displaying PLR 17 in the main left meters.
So the dynamic feature is not usable at this point for me.
Can anyone say same or different?

The LU histogram metering works normally though, just same like previous meter1 did.

Secondly about purchasing
I support Youlean, his Loudness metering is a great product especially in these times.
Glad to use his metering since he put it on kvr dc 2016.
Very handy but with keeping in mind & calculating the LUFS offset for various platforms,
and doing PLR dynamic estimates per track is a real drag.
So thought I'd still go for the pricey Dynameter by Ian Shepard that I'd been putting off like forever.
Just as I was about to get it by a 50% off coupon, Youlean posted in dc18 he's finalizing this v2.
Heavenly timing maybe ^^

I've jumped on the intro price immediately when I saw it yesterday,
knowing he put in effort for 2years & the extra features would be useful.
The platform estimations feature however,
Spotify, apple music etc. is no different then if you'd dial in -14LUFS as target yourself.
Knowing the platforms est. LUFS playback levels numbers.
Having it on speed dial of 2 mouse clicks compared to 2 clicks + numerical target manually,
don't really seem that valuable of a feature.
Surely such things will be improved & fine tuned.
Showing the platform LUFS in the manual would also be a good thing.

Speaking of the manual, I also didn't find anything about measurement intervals used in this plugin.
officially, short term LUFS is a measure over a 3sec time window.
and momentary LUFS over a 400ms time window.
comparable to 300ms window in RMS/VU metering.
But what is the PLR dynamic colour measurement time window?
Really interested in that, on how fast it measures the dynamic in milliseconds.
Would prove invaluable info, with setting attack & release times on the final limiting of the master.
It would just be nice if it was stated & verified, so I can rely on it blindly as a sure thing

In conclusion I like what Youlean is doing, & I really need this plug.
But the dynamic view isn't working for me right now to act & base decisions on.
And at the moment am not sure about all the features compared to the free version to be honest.
The 30day refund... Would I or anyone really need that in worse case?
I certainly hope not. I want to use this great plugin
and lifetime support & updates sounds great too.

it was 29euro incl vat at checkout by the way.
$27 failed to pay in USD during checkout.
it errored indicating based on region & changed to 29eur.
Bit strange handling & unfair regional pricing but it checked-out okay.

[plexuss]

[ stuff about the PLR meter ]

The stock settings for the PLR zone colours are over-reaching in my opinion. I've had to adjust them so I get good amounts of green in around the 12 PLR range and turning to orange under 9. I've had to move them around so that I get green in the area I consider a good target for PLR, which is > 10. I just adjusted the zones until I got what I wanted.

[Unidoubt]

ah nice you tweaked & got the colours adjusted Plexuss ^^
Thanks for reply, I'll try that
However it still doesn't solve that the meters & dynamic view shows such different values.
Check my screenshot of Barbers Adagio for strings.

During playback the LUFS levels were between -19 &-40 LUFS.
Shown highlighted white in the meter-bar area.
And -24.3 LUFS integrated, PLR integrated at 18.6 LU.

It doesn't make sense to me that the dynamic graph shows -10 PLR throughout, that doesn't add up.
Like it measured a dance track or something totally unrelated. Not the waveform seen directly above it.
Am I seeing things or not understanding something lol ^^

edit: added the loudness LU graph

[digitalboytn]

Barbers Adagio for strings

What a wonderful piece of music that is

[mutantdog]

The dynamic range graph is centred on 0 LU and extends into +ve and -ve values. It has an average range between -9.3 LU and + 9.3 LU which makes a total difference of 18.6 LU.

I'd say it looks like it is measuring the waveform - as the volume of the track increases the graph gets thinner. There is more dynamic range during the quiter parts than there is at the louder section.

[EnochLight]

Dynameter by Ian Shepard Is like $99 USD. For just $50 USD more, you can get iZotope Insight 2, which has 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos support along with plugin inner-communication. If you’re a user of Ozone, it’s really attractive.

[Compyfox]

Please back to topic and that’s the loudness meter !

Tried to - several times - people always get back to "OMG STFU on your whining".

Like this fellow from left field.

I also think the developer(Julijan) has been great at listening to suggestions and plans to further develop the plugin and give updates for free to anyone who purchased it during this introductory offer. I also think that he has been very patient during these elongated personal attacks on his product and business practices.

Funny that you mention that - I had a longer convo with the dev yesterday evening via Facebook, and he did not(!) see my commentary as "personal attacks" like it's constantly being depicted (in fact, he thanked me for the feedback!).

But thanks for pointing that out once more, also on my obviously bad English. Appreciated!
Could we stop with the Guard_Dogs BS now?






Let's answer some Q's

Is the PLR dynamic range metering working properly for you guys?

As mentioned, the color codes are not ideal. And in fact, I'd love to see a custom color selector as well - but we just have to make due with what's possible (which is actually fine, once you understand the concept). In this case, you need to turn off the colors you don't want/need (dip switch) in the advanced settings, then drag the areas you want to have covered via mouse.

The "color crossover point" is basically your target value where things change colors. So if you want the PLR to start go green at PLR18 but turn yellow at PLR9, you need to turn off Blue and drag the crossover point for green to -18 and yellow to -9.

Here is a screenshot how I set it up (for my needs)

PLR Range Setup.PNG

Can still be fine tuned to your needs of course. I barely need a PLR visualization. I'm more than happy with a plain number. And everything above 10 is good IMO. It's highly program material dependent anyway unless we talk broadcast streams (FX, VO, Podcasts, etc) and not music.

I just wish we could save the color codes globally, therefore switching between standards wouldn't mess up things. I personally also mostly use ITU-R BS-1770-x rather than EBU R-128, but that's a matter of preference.

So thought I'd still go for the pricey Dynameter by Ian Shepard that I'd been putting off like forever.
Just as I was about to get it by a 50% off coupon, Youlean posted in dc18 he's finalizing this v2.
Heavenly timing maybe ^^

Nothing against Ian Shepherd, but DynaMeter is just one way of visualizing your material (and limited to that!). PLR is highly program material depended (as is DR-Metering), since it measures the Peak to Loudness Ratio (SLk). And that can shift drastically depending on how you mixed your production and how many transients you're ultimately getting.

A track can sound outstanding at PLR11 to PLR9 with an ILk value of -16LUFS, yet the meter tells you "it's crushed, this is wrong, do better". This should never(!!!) be taken as a one-stop solution.

Spotify, apple music etc. is no different then if you'd dial in -14LUFS as target yourself.
Knowing the platforms est. LUFS playback levels numbers.
Having it on speed dial of 2 mouse clicks compared to 2 clicks + numerical target manually,
don't really seem that valuable of a feature.
Surely such things will be improved & fine tuned.
Showing the platform LUFS in the manual would also be a good thing.

There is the big problem I've talked about earlier, that this will be a huge task to keep an eye/ear on.

Spotify is currently (to my knowledge) still on -14LUFS, slowly working their way to their ultimate goal -16LUFS, if they didn't go there already (I seem to remember a news post about this recently, same for TIDAL). Apple Music (or Mastered for iTunes) is at -16LUFS, Youtube can't decide if they go for -12LUFS or -14LUFS - on average it's at -13LUFS, and only working in realtime (pulled up or down) for selected mass-visited channels (it's very inconsistent sometimes). If you want to distribute music material yourself, those are your current target values.

Mentioning those values in the manual would be nice, indeed. But the manual (and the plugin) needs to be updated monthly to address certain shifts. Which is why I asked for the capability to manually resave the settings. Maybe even via an INI file to edit.

In fact... now that I think about it, an INI in this case is the best route to go. Instead of constantly distributing a plugin update, only the INI is getting updated ever so often.

Here's to a new FR - Julijan!

Speaking of the manual, I also didn't find anything about measurement intervals used in this plugin.
officially, short term LUFS is a measure over a 3sec time window.
and momentary LUFS over a 400ms time window.
comparable to 300ms window in RMS/VU metering.

Not comparable as VU and RMS metering uses no weighting filter, while everything resolving around ITU-R BS.1770-x does.

In fact, nearly every company does RMS metering at different time windows and overlap. The patent for the Dorrough 40A is 600ms unweighted however.

But what is the PLR dynamic colour measurement time window?
Really interested in that, on how fast it measures the dynamic in milliseconds.

Overlapping measurement windows, based on SLk. At least this was the original idea.

The dynamic range graph is centered on 0 LU and extends into +ve and -ve values. It has an average range between -9.3 LU and + 9.3 LU which makes a total difference of 18.6 LU.

I'd say it looks like it is measuring the waveform - as the volume of the track increases the graph gets thinner. There is more dynamic range during the quiter parts than there is at the louder section.

No, it's measuring the range from maximum Short Term signal strength (SLk) to maximum true peak (dBTP), then puts it out in this "waveform view". Granted, the view is a bit crazy as it's from zero (0 = no dynamic) to highest dynamic range (at -24LUFS = 24 PLR) but rather split in positive/negative... but who knows what this design choice was.

A pure positive plot would be easier to understand - but I think the association is indeed with a waveform (visually) - more pleasing to the eye I guess...

Would prove invaluable info, with setting attack & release times on the final limiting of the master.
It would just be nice if it was stated & verified, so I can rely on it blindly as a sure thing

What use would this be?

Shouldn't you setup your master limiter to just catch the rogue peaks rather than doing a musical compression?

And at the moment am not sure about all the features compared to the free version to be honest.

Some features could have been available to the free version, indeed. But from what I gathered last night with the convo with Julijan, he's currently in post release support mode, thinks about the requested features/changes and will try to update ASAP.

The 30day refund... Would I or anyone really need that in worse case?

Yes.

it was 29euro incl vat at checkout by the way.
$27 failed to pay in USD during checkout.
it errored indicating based on region & changed to 29eur.
Bit strange handling & unfair regional pricing but it checked-out okay.

Actually, if you're in a region where the VAT is only 19% and not 21% (or even higher), then it's 28EUR. But other than that, yes... there are still issues with the shop - especially if you're in Europe and try to go with any value other than your native one, plus PayPal... then they ask for an additional 2-3% more. Just out of curiosity, PayPal would have asked me for 32EUR from 27USD... and that does definitely not add up.

Shop got drastically improved however. So that's a good thing.

[Youlean]

... I bought the pro version just to support Youlean, since he's offered this fantastic plugin for free for the past 2 years - I just felt like supporting him...

Thanks EnochLight!

[Youlean]

... and now back to the subject. I went ahead and purchased the pro version even though I have several metering tools that do the same thing as YLM. I like the fact that it incorporates the PLR dynamics graph into the plugin along side the other metering functions. I also think the developer(Julijan) has been great at listening to suggestions and plans to further develop the plugin and give updates for free to anyone who purchased it during this introductory offer. I also think that he has been very patient during these elongated personal attacks on his product and business practices. I say grab it for only $27 while you still can!

Thanks bobhva, I listen everybody for suggestions, and I do want to improve the plugin and whole business, but it takes time to implement/change everything.
I don't see this as a personal attack. As long as there are arguments I am OK with that.

[Youlean]

[ stuff about the PLR meter ]

The stock settings for the PLR zone colours are over-reaching in my opinion. I've had to adjust them so I get good amounts of green in around the 12 PLR range and turning to orange under 9. I've had to move them around so that I get green in the area I consider a good target for PLR, which is > 10. I just adjusted the zones until I got what I wanted.

Yes! I feel myself too that zone colors should be changed.
I was thinking about setting zones for every preset separately.
Do you have any suggestion?

[Youlean]

The dynamic range graph is centred on 0 LU and extends into +ve and -ve values. It has an average range between -9.3 LU and + 9.3 LU which makes a total difference of 18.6 LU.

I'd say it looks like it is measuring the waveform - as the volume of the track increases the graph gets thinner. There is more dynamic range during the quiter parts than there is at the louder section.

No, you are having 9.3 PLR Short Term.

This type of view is just eye pleasing just like Compyfox said.