VU or dBu?

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simonsez

simonsez

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 14, 2008
Messages
679
Location
Jakarta, ID
Hi all,

I like to put LED bar meter into my summing mixer, on the master bus which one should I put? VU or dBu scale?
what about on the individual channel? 

regards,

simon
 
if it's a summing bus from a soundcard, then your full scale value is known.
In which case, I'd use a dBFS meter. (dB below full scale)

R
 
Rochey said:
if it's a summing bus from a soundcard, then your full scale value is known.
In which case, I'd use a dBFS meter. (dB below full scale)

R
Click to expand...

it will have line amp with PAN and fader on each channel.
What I need to know is the reason behind to have dBu scale instead  VU scale (vice versa) on channel strip or master bus?
 
As a general rule, professional gear is designed for a nominal operating level of +4dBu which generally equates to 0VU.  Thus the only difference between the two in most cases is 4dB. The choice of nominal operating level is yours but I suspect most products are calibrated to 0VU.

Cheers

Ian
 
I think it comes down to personal preference when deciding on scale.

If your summing mixer is outputting straight into some converters then it would be nice to have the dBFS scale.

However if you are printing to 2 track tape or something then VU might be the better way to go. Granted your tape deck probably has a nice pair of calibrated VU's
 

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