Thomas Mundt releases LUveler, a free loudness and dynamics plugin for Windows and Linux. LUveler comes from Thomas Mundt, the developer behind the look-ahead brickwall loudness maximizer plugin, LoudMax (which is featured as one of the top picks in our article about free limiter plugins). LUveler is compatible with the ITU-R BS.1770 specification. When you start getting into broadcast specifications, it all looks pretty technical, organized, and impressive. One of the things I hate most (and it seems worse now than ever) is having to ride the volume while trying to enjoy a movie/show. Everything sounds awesome when there’s music and action; then, you can’t hear a word of dialogue. Naturally, you increase the volume to hear what’s being said, but that’s where I forget about it and get bombarded by Flight of the Valkyries (or random loud noise) at max volume. Rant over.
The idea of LUveler is to maintain sound quality even when its compressors and limiters are being forced to do some pretty heavy lifting. It should provide a precise reduction of dynamics without sounding obvious. LUveler can help find consistency by matching dynamics across different platforms. If you run a podcast or do any kind of live streaming, automatic leveling can be your best friend. Whatever the use case, the ultimate goal is always balance and consistency, which is aided by high-quality true peak limiters. Initially, Thomas Mundt developed LUveler for an automated environment using the LADSPA API. The developer has since added a VST version, although there are no plans for a macOS release. Something like the Youlean Loudness Meter might serve you well if you’re a macOS user. There’s also the Youlean Loudness Meter LITE for iOS. If you check out the LUveler website, it has a brief explanation of each parameter: Free Autotune VST Plugins Target Level True Peak Max Gain Freeze Level Input Level Correction High Correction Low Correction Mix Mode LUveler is available as a LADSPA plugin for Windows and Linux or in 32/64-bit VST format for Windows. |
