In math, It’s the effective value of the complete waveform, also known as average from the square root of the signal voltage over time. RMS in music stands for Root-Mean-Square. And unlike a peak meter that monitors for top volume spikes, VU meter and VU meter plugins show you the so-called average volume. What they forget about is that humans are not computers and we hear loudness differently.įor instance, our ears only feel the average sound level, not the peaks. Why Use VU Meter and VU Meter Plugins?Ī lot of the time music producers will only monitor the audio peaks to prevent listeners from flinching. You’ve probably seen it a million times in the movies and TV shows but didn’t know that was the hardware VU meter. It’s been with radio broadcast equipment since the early 1940s. If you can’t afford one, you can always use the free VU meter plugins below! What Does “VU” Mean In Audio?
