Ever struggle with tracks sounding different on headphones, speakers, and streaming platforms? Wish you could confidently ensure industry-standard loudness and clarity without sacrificing your creative vision?
Free analyzer plugins are your secret weapon!
Imagine:
Seamlessly balanced mixes: Captivate listeners on any device, anywhere.
Industry-standard loudness: Gain that professional polish and avoid the loudness wars.
More creative freedom: Ditch technical headaches and focus on what matters most - your music.
Unlock the power of:
Free Loudness Meter: Hit those perfect LUFS levels for impactful tracks.
Spectrum Analyzer: Dive deep into your sound, revealing and fixing problem frequencies.
Correlation Meter: Maintain pristine stereo imaging for a powerful, consistent soundscape.
Don't settle for inconsistency! Grab these free plugins today and unleash your music's true potential wherever it's heard.
Do your tracks sound too thin? Are you tired of tracks that sound like demos? This Mastering Subscription unlocks a powerful combination: a 40% discount on ongoing mastering services for the perfect sound and access to the exclusive Learn Music Production course.
Are you struggling to get your mixes to sound as loud and polished as your favourite tracks?
Relying on your ears alone can be tricky, thanks to psychoacoustics, volume changes, and even just plain old listening fatigue. But those built-in DAW meters often leave you wanting more info, too.
That's where a dedicated loudness meter plugin comes in, giving you the tools you need to measure and monitor your mixes like a pro using industry-standard scales. And guess what? There's an awesome free one out there called Loudness by Goodhertz.
Loudness is a powerful and easy-to-use loudness meter plugin that can help you achieve the best loudness level for your mixes using the latest standards and algorithms.
With Loudness, you can:
Check the loudness of your mixes and compare them with other reference songs using LUFS, RMS, Peak, and True Peak displays and three different time windows (Momentary, Short and Long Term).
See the crest factor of your song, which tells you how dynamic your song is, and adjust it to your preference or genre.
The Auto Gain feature automatically sets volume levels to compare your mix with a mastering or reference songs.
Check your stereo image and make sure your mix is mono-compatible, using extensive stereo controls and measurements, such as Mono Sum, Solo, Mute, Polarity, and Fine Trim.
Loudness is a must-have plugin for any music producer, and it’s completely free to download and use.
I highly recommend you try it and see how it can help you visualize what you hear.
Here is a Loudness Meter alternative
Youlean Loudness meter is a great tool that effortlessly determines Short-term and Integrated LUFS, Loudness Range, Real-time Dynamics, Average Dynamics, Instantaneous and Short-term Maximum LUFS, and True Peak for mono, stereo, and 5.1 audio. It also offers an instantaneous visual representation, including a LUFS meter and loudness distribution graph.
Spectrum analyzer plugins help you see what you hear.
You probably know that spectrum analyzers are essential tools for music production. They show you the frequency distribution of your audio signal, which can help you identify problems, balance your mix, and achieve a better sound.
That's why I want to share two of my favourite spectrum analyzer plugins that are amazing and free!
The first one is Span from voxengo. This plugin is perfect for comparing your songs' mid/side ratio and stereo image with other tracks. It has a very clear and customizable display, letting you adjust the analysis's resolution, speed, and range. You can also switch between different modes, such as average, max, or real-time.
But the best feature of span is that it allows you to import other audio files and overlay their spectra on top of yours. This way, you can easily compare your mix with reference tracks and see how they differ in terms of frequency balance, stereo width, and dynamics.
This powerful technique can help you improve your mixes and achieve a more consistent and professional sound.
The second plugin is TDR Prism by popular software developer Tokyo Dawn Labs. This new and advanced frequency analyzer specifically targets human audio perception. This user-friendly audio plugin allows you to gain precise insights into the spectral characteristics of a signal.
TDR Prism offers a variety of features, such as spectral weighting and tilt methods as well as peak/RMS smoothing options, which also include human hearing filters and real-time indicators for auditory masking of individual tracks.
But the most amazing feature of TDR Prism is that it can visualize and compare spectra from different sources. Whether it's audio files, regular or sidechain inputs or even other instances of the plugin in the same project. In short, the tool can analyze and display everything.
And it does so in a very intuitive and elegant way. The plugin's user interface is freely scalable and supports a full-screen mode, providing convenient insight into the audio spectrum.
This tool is perfect for comparing your songs with others, and also for understanding how your ears perceive sound and understand the sound visually.
TDR Prism also has a unique feature that no other spectrum analyzer has: the masking feature.
What is masking, you ask?
Masking is a phenomenon that occurs when two or more sounds with similar frequencies overlap and make each other less audible. This can reduce the clarity and definition and make it sound muddy and dull.
TDR Prism can show you how different frequency bands of your audio signal can mask each other and affect your perception of the sound. It can also help you identify and avoid problematic frequency overlaps and make your mix more balanced and transparent.
How does it work?
TDR Prism calculates the masking threshold for each frequency band based on the total energy of all inputs, as if mixed and auditioned as a whole. It then shows you the masked areas in different colours. You can also see the masking indicators on the right side of the display, which show you the amount of masking for each input.
By using the masking feature, you can make better decisions and improve the quality and intelligibility of your sound.
Here you will also find my favourite settings for TDR Prism
I have a question for you: Do you know if your mix is mono-compatible?
If you don't, you might make a huge mistake that can ruin your mix quality and sound awful on some playback systems.
Let me explain.
When you mix your music, you probably use stereo effects such as Izotope Imager, panning effects, chorus, or delay to create a sense of space and width. And that's great because it can make your mix sound more exciting and immersive.
But there's a catch.
If you use these effects too much or carelessly, you can create phase problems between your mix's left and right channels (Stereo Mix). This means that some frequencies cancel each other out too much when they are combined.
And this can have disastrous consequences for your mix.
For example, if your mix has phase problems, it can sound:
Quiet, thin, or distorted when played on mono systems, such as smartphones, laptops, or radios
Unbalanced, muddy, or harsh when played on stereo systems, such as headphones, speakers, or car stereos
Inconsistent, unpredictable, or unprofessional when compared to other songs in your genre or niche
In other words, your mix can lose its impact, clarity, and quality because of phase problems.
And the worst part is, you might not even notice them until it's too late.
That's why you need to check your mix for phase problems regularly and fix them before you export your final version.
But how do you do that?
You could use your ears and switch between mono and stereo listening modes, but that can be tedious and unreliable.
Or you could use a simple and powerful tool to show you exactly how good your mix sounds in mono and how to improve it.
It's called the correlation meter.
A correlation meter is a plugin that measures the phase correlation between the left and right channels of your mix. It shows you a value between -1 and +1, where:
+1 means your mix is perfectly mono-compatible and has no phase problems
-1 means your mix is completely out of phase and has severe phase problems
0 means your mix should sound fine but is partially out of phase and has some phase problems
The closer the value is to +1, the better your mix sounds in mono. The closer the value is to -1, the worse your mix sounds in mono.
Using a correlation meter lets you easily spot and fix any phase problems in your mix and make sure it sounds great on any system.
Sounds awesome, right?
But where can you find a good correlation meter plugin?
Well, you're in luck because I have the perfect one for you.
It's called the Voxengo Correlometer, a free multiband correlation meter plugin you can download and use right now.
The Voxengo Correlometer is different from other correlation meters because it lets you see the phase correlation for different frequency bands of your mix. This way, you can pinpoint precisely where the phase problems are and how to fix them.
For example, you can see if your bass range is too wide or too narrow, which can affect the punch and power of your mix. Or you can see if your synth mid or high range is too out of phase, which can affect the clarity and definition of your mix.
The Voxengo Correlometer is a nice tool to achive a better sound experience. You just need to insert it on your master channel and watch the meter as you play your mix.
To help you get started, I have created a screenshot of my favorite settings for the Voxengo Correlometer. You can see it below.
Here are some tips on how to use it effectively:
The meter shows you the correlation value for each frequency band, from low to high. The lower the band, the more important it is to have a high correlation value, because low frequencies are more prone to phase problems.
The meter shows a line indicating the average correlation value for the different frequencies. You want this line to be between +1 and 0 (the red line), but not exactly +1, because that would mean your mix is too narrow and boring.
If the meter goes into the negative range for any band, especially the lower ones, you have phase problems and need to fix them. You can do that by adjusting the stereo width, panning, or effects of the tracks contributing to that band.
It's a good idea to compare your mix with other songs that you like or are similar to yours, and see their correlation values. This can give you a reference point and a goal to aim for.
I hope this plugin is useful and helps you improve your mix quality and avoid phase problems.
Melda Production MLoudnessAnalyzer
Sonnox Frauenhofer Pro Codec
Letimix Gainmatch
Sample Magic Magic AB
ADPTR Audio MetricAB
I am Marcus, a music enthusiast who runs a mixing and mastering business. Additionally, I compose insightful articles for my blog and produce music as a member of the techno duo Agravik.
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