FL Studio mater track meter question!

[Oneyejoe]

In FL 12, what is the initial master track measuring exactly?.. It is not very clear as to what Its measuring.. I open up Wave Candy to see a peak meter, and I see no matter how much I change the volume of a reference track, the peak meter stays way up there at 0db as if nothing is changing. I change it to RMS, and it obviously goes way down (when the reference track is turned down) although the measurements are not lining up. Wave Candy and the master track. For instance when measuring RMS in Wave Candy, it will hypothetically be hitting steadily between -11 and -12 db.. BUT the master track meter is hitting -6db.. SO what the heck am I supposed to be looking at/relying on?.. Any help here?.. I looked on imageline and tried searching for this answer all over the place and I cannot seem to find it anywhere.

[ATN69]

As far as I can tell the L/R meters in FL Studio will show you peak level.

I checked by adding MGenerator from Melda and set it to -14dB. I removed any limiter on the masterbus. I also added a better and more accurate meter as reference on the masterbus, and I also added wave candy. All of them show -14dB peak when I set the MGenerator to -14dB. That's also why your meter hit -6dB and not around -12dB.

Edit! At the same time I can give you a free tip. There is a great fader/meter that is free and it comes both as 32-bit and 64-bit. It is called Free-G from Sonalksis.

https://www.sonalksis.com/freeg.html

[Oneyejoe]

As far as I can tell the L/R meters in FL Studio will show you peak level.

I checked by adding MGenerator from Melda and set it to -14dB. I removed any limiter on the masterbus. I also added a better and more accurate meter as reference on the masterbus, and I also added wave candy. All of them show -14dB peak when I set the MGenerator to -14dB. That's also why your meter hit -6dB and not around -12dB.

Edit! At the same time I can give you a free tip. There is a great fader/meter that is free and it comes both as 32-bit and 64-bit. It is called Free-G from Sonalksis.

https://www.sonalksis.com/freeg.html

Thanks for the tip and the info! So just to clear it up in my own mind, and this may sound noobie or redundant but just so Im clear.

I throw a reference track into FL Wave Candy when measuring peaks is slamming 0db as it should, I turn the master fader in FL down, it keeps hitting 0db in Wave Candy but not for FL's master fader, it goes down to however much (for instance like said above) it hits -6db.

I change the Wave Candy measurement to RMS, Wavecandy is hitting around -11 and -12

All while FLs's master fader stays at -6db.

In simpletons terms, this is happening due to?... Another side question, If FL's master fader is measuring peaks, why does Wavecandy show a constant 0db no matter what volume, yet FL's master fader is hitting whatever volume I lower it to?...

So sorry if you already answered my questions and they flew over my head.. lol Its just a little confusing so I do apologize if everything above sounds confusing.

[ATN69]

The major thing to remember here is that the peak meters on the master fader are always situated last in the chain, while wave candy can be inserted anywhere, and thereby affected by everything else before and after in the chain. In my setup Fruity Limiter is always loaded up on the last insert in the master bus as default, but I don't know if that is your case.

In other words, if you want to compare the peak meter at the master bus with anything else you need to make sure that there is nothing inserted between your reference meter (wave candy) and the peak meter on the master bus.

It's also a good ide to keep track of your input signal to any plugin you are using. Every plugin have it's "sweet spot". I always try to make sure that the input signal level to each plugin is no louder than around -9dB rms. It is only at the very end of the chain on the masterbus where I put any maximizer to increase the over all loudness.

[Oneyejoe]

Awesome thank you so much, highly appreciated seriously. So when you say each plugin, you mean before mastering the track at the end, you solo each instrument / sample including the kick drum and make sure nothing exceeds -9rms? interesting. have not heard of that yet, defiantly going to try it. Also, dumb mistake I found lol... In Wave candy I hadn't changed the input within the plugin.


Derp =P

[ATN69]

Checking the level going in to each plugin is something I do at mixing stage. Let's say I have a channel with EQ -> Compressor -> Reverb, each of these plugins normally have an output gain Control. In this case I Always check that the EQ doesn't push the signal level up too loud so that the level going into the compressor is too high. Same with the signal from the compressor going into the reverb. You can do it by ear actually. Just bypass the plugin you want to check and listen if the level is dropping once you bypass it. No need to Always measure Everything