Gain staging for audio mastering with Waves VU meter plugin

[p4ris]

Been using the Waves VU meter plugin to keep an eye on my levels. It's set to -18 by default, which apparently works well for most analog stuff. But, my online mixing class mentioned leaving -6 dB headroom for mastering. So, shouldn't I just bump the Waves audio software plugin to 6 instead of 18? That way, when I mix and the meter hits around 0, the master fader shows that sweet -6 dB spot? Just checking if that makes sense.

 

[spongystuff]

Hey, keep the Waves VU meter plugin on if it's been helpful. But for quick headroom checks, just glance at your professional music production software's stereo bus meter. It's way faster and tells you what you need to know in a snap.

 

[Weird Buffalo]

Whoa there, hold on a sec. You're mixing things up a bit. 0 dBVU ain't always the same as -18 dBFS (depends on your converter, y'know?). Now, this only applies to a clean 1 kHz sine wave, not your average vocal. Now, your signal can be louder or quieter, that's cool. But ditch the VU meter for percussive stuff, use a peak meter instead. Trust me, it'll be way more accurate.