stuartm wrote:wayfinder wrote:One thing I had always been missing in Live was a per-track peak level indicator. Frustratingly, not even Spectrum had that. Well turns out there is one, it's just not visible by default. Drag the divider between Send Section and Mixer Section upward in Clip View, and there it is! Not available in Arrangement View though, apparently. Drag it up even further and you get a numeric value for the track volume. Another thing I'd been missing sorely. This is saved in the project, so be sure to update your default template.
Another hint: The peak meter shows you the absolute peak, when you click the number, it resets to the current value
This peak number is immensely important for proper A/Bing tracks when you put effects like compression on it:
- Check the dB of the original signal, write it down or duplicate the track
- put in the compressor, turn output down so it's quieter than than the original (or the track volume if you've duplicated it)
- reset the peak meter
- now slowly raise the output / track volume until the peak meter show the same dB as the original
- now do A/B comparison
- if it sounds better, keep it
This will save you from using lots of compression or likewise effects because they just sound louder, not better.
...you're mistaking peak RMS values..
if a compressed signal peaks the same as the uncompressed signal ...it'll almost always be louder...
however.. if you compare the average volume (RMS).. you can get a good a/b (more objective)
the peak value is good to determine the highest peak in a certain timeframe.. (rms uses longer timeframes so is better to detect "loudness")
mostly for mixing...and cutting the peaks...not primarily to A/B...
