Waves has just released a stellar update to their critically acclaimed WLM Loudness Meter. The new WLM Plus version, available for free to those who are eligible – includes a few new and very useful features.
The plugin now acts as both a Loudness Meter and a Loudness Processor. New controls (Gain/Trim) are located in the Processing Panel and are designed to apply loudness normalization and correction. There is also a new switchable True Peak Limiter that adheres to the True Peak parameter defined in the selected running preset.
Here’s how it works:
Notice below I am running WLM Plus using my own custom preset (figg -16 LUFS). Besides the obvious Integrated Loudness target (-16 LUFS), I’ve defined -1.0 dBTP as my True Peak ceiling.
What you need to do is insert the plugin at the end of your chain. Turn on the True Peak Limiter. Now play through the entire segment that you wish to measure and correct. During playback the textField value located on the WLM Plus Trim button will update in realtime, displaying the proper amount of gain compensation that is necessary to meet the Integrated Loudness target (it’s +2.1 dB in this example).
When measurement is complete, simply press the Trim button. This will set the Gain slider to the proper value for accurate compensation. Finish up by bouncing the segment through WLM Plus, much the same as any processing plugin. The processed audio will now match the Integrated Loudness Preset target and True Peaks will be limited accordingly.
I haven’t tested this in Pro Tools but my guess is this also works when using WLM Plus as an Audio Suite process on individual clips.
Of course you can make a manual adjustment to the Gain slider as well. In this case you would use the displayed Trim Value to properly set the necessary amount of gain compensation.
Great update to this well designed Loudness Meter.
-paul.