What happened to my metering?

[sricabla]

Don't know what happened but my metering is not accurate. I do the mix and I bounce the track with "Import after bounce" and if you look at the waveform before and after, it's totally different. As you can see in the attachments the waveform is normal but I'm way in the red the whole time.

[Darryl Ramm]

It is unlikely meters are just going to misbehave. What *exact* meter type are you looking at? Are they the same type? And since meter colors are arbitrary, what exactly are you measuring/worried about (ideally in dbFS).

A common cause of bounce level issues is not bouncing exactly what you are monitoring. So *exactly* what is the bounce source? *Exactly* what are you doing...

Where is *any* of the expected information here? Pro Tools version, system info, etc.

[sricabla]

Thanks for replying. I'm on a Mac on OS Catalina, PT 21.7.0.127
I do my mix and I bounce. The attachment shows when I mix, all is well. Waveform is normal and VU is good. After I bounce and import back into project, VU is deep red and LEDs light up, but waveform is normal.

[The Weed]

In the left picture the tack is muted and in the right picture it's soloed. Is this making a difference?

[Darryl Ramm]

Pro Tools Standard? HDX?

Again *what exactly is the bounce source*.

You see the same issue with real time and non-real time bounce?

You are using a Wave meter plugin, and we cannot guess exactly where you have those plugins inserted.

With the exception of master tracks, plugins are pre-fader on all other tracks, so one potential mistake here is inserting a meter plugin that is pre-fader and bouncing an output that is post-fader with the fader turned up. Or not having the plugin meter last in the chain, Again, because we don't know where the meters plugins were inserted and what *exactly* you are bouncing we can't tell what you were doing wrong, and all these type of issues are typically user mistakes.

And for a start, at least while troubleshooting, forget the waves plugins (and Pro Tools can do VU metering just fine, no need for this clunky plugin), but start by looking at stuff with Pro Tools classic meters in, and be thinking in, dbFS not VU. Make sure Pro Tools metering is in post fader mode.

[sricabla]

Thanks for getting back. I have the VU at the end of the mix bus before Sonarworks. I have Mac Standard PT. I meter for peak metering.

Thanks in advance

[Darryl Ramm]

When you bounce in Pro Tools you get to select the source... WHAT DO YOU HAVE IT SET TO? Last time I'm asking. You need this clear in your mind and I worry you have no idea what I'm asking. Look carefully at the bounce dialog panel.

End of the mix bus? You mean on the master fader? Sonarworks, ... so again what are you bouncing? If you are bouncing the physical outputs that Sonarworks is driving then of course all this can be way off.

If you want to do that and compare levels then meters need to be the last thing on the master fader... which is where the Pro Tools meters are. Easiest thing to do is get rid of this waves crap and use the built in meters. I suspect between not understanding bounce source, Waves plugins and Sonaworks you've probably got yourself confused.

Maybe set yourself up to so do some testing/learning. Start with a session with one track, no plugins, no Sonarworks. Put a signal gen sine wave on that audio track at a known dbFS level from sig gen and see if the PT meters agree with that in dbFS, bounce that out and back in and see/understand what happens in anything to levels there in dBFS. Stuff should work out exactly, to a fraction of a dB. Then add in more stuff to approach what your current sessions look like, add Waves meters , etc. if you want to use them until you are able to reproduce something like the problem you are seeing.

[its2loud]

Everything Darryl said and also download this

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

You’re most likely bouncing the wrong source, bouncing with soundID active, or measuring the wrong thing.

[Darryl Ramm]

I love the YouLean Loudness meter... and if you do go there spend the $30 or whatever and get the Pro version so you can so analyze a bounce file stand alone.

But but but... before complicating stuff further just do what I suggested and play around with a sine wave test signal starting very simple. You know exactly what signal you have then, in dBFS trivially, in VU and LUFS with not a lot of work and you can see what exactly what is going on at each stage of the processing. And learn the Pro Tools metering capabilities so they are second nature.

[sricabla]

Thanks so much.