MixLess

User manual

Less Meter

Loudness, true peak, correlation and spectrum, including the club and festival targets streaming meters skip.

macOS: AU and VST3, Apple silicon · Windows: VST3, 64 bit
mixlessaudio.com · [email protected]

Overview

Streaming platforms normalise; clubs and festivals do not. Less Meter carries the targets mainstream meters skip, club at -8 and festival at -6, next to the broadcast and streaming standards, and tells you what the platform will do to your level before you find out from the master.

Installation

Run the installer for your platform. On macOS the AU and VST3 versions install for all users; on Windows the VST3 installs under Common Files. Factory presets install into your user preset folder and are never overwritten: presets you save land in the same folder and stay yours.

macOS presets ~/Library/Application Support/MixLess/Presets/Less Meter
Windows presets %APPDATA%\MixLess\Presets\Less Meter

The interface

Less Meter interface

The screenshot is the shipping interface, rendered by the shipping code. Press I in the plugin to toggle the same control descriptions as cursor tooltips.

Controls

TARGETLoudness target: streaming presets, Club -8 / Festival -6, or Custom
CUSTOM TARGETCustom target level, used when the Target box says Custom
RESETRestart integrated / LRA / true-peak measurement and clear the history
EXPORTSave all readings as a JSON loudness report
HISTORYLoudness history: short-term (amber), momentary (dim), target band shaded; distribution on the right
GONIOMETERGoniometer: vertical = mono energy, horizontal = stereo width; watch for heavy side lean
SPECTRUMLive spectrum. Drop an audio file on the window to overlay a reference (dashed)

Workflows

Deliver for a streaming platform

Pick the platform's target from the preset menu. Mix until integrated loudness sits at the target, and check the normalization preview: it tells you how much the platform will turn the track down and the true peak after it does.

Prepare a club or festival master

Club systems do not normalise. Select the club -8 or festival -6 target and let the integrated readout guide you; the TP HIGH badge warns when true peak crosses the safe ceiling.

Compare against a reference

Drop a reference file onto the window. Its spectrum overlays yours as a dashed curve, so tonal balance and level decisions happen on one screen.

Tips

The analysis path is a sample-exact passthrough, verified by test: metering adds nothing to your signal.
The OVERS log lists every moment true peak crossed the ceiling: when, and by how much.
PLR and PSR tell you how dynamic the master is at a glance; falling numbers mean rising density.

Specifications

FormatsAU, VST3
Latency0 samples
StandardsEBU R128, BS.1770-4
Targetsstreaming, broadcast, club -8, festival -6
Signal pathsample-exact passthrough

Support

Questions and problems: [email protected]. Legal notices, the privacy notice and third-party licences: mixlessaudio.com.