Full disclosure, we don't have answers, but boy oh boy do we have some questions.
You might’ve some of discourse online recently about Pro Tools metering having a distinct effect on the sound of your mixes. The problem with this discourse, it’s that it’s seemingly come from a very reputable source, Born Horn (Usher, Timbaland, Michael Jackson, NeYo, Kelly Clarkson, Brandy, Ashanti and more!), as well as citing another reputable mixer, Dave Pensado (Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé, Elton John, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, The Black Eyed Peas and more). Check out the video below:
Horn’s explanation makes sense, he’s not saying that the audio runs through the meters at all, instead he’s under the impression that the different coding used to make the meters display your audio is affecting Pro Tools ability to process your audio transparently.
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Where this begins to fall apart, maybe, is the multiple, and also reputable, sources who are discussing this online, and doing null tests to demonstrate that this is not the case. Horn also claims in the above video that “Pro Tools Classic” metering is the worst sounding option. He concludes that he’s using K-14 for tracks and Linear Extended on the master tracks. Bob Horn goes on to explain that with multiple tracks, sub groups, masters and more, you’re slowly degrading the quality of your mix, albeit little bit by little bit.
Recording Studio Loser, an engineer and YouTuber from the USA, seemingly disproves this in the “6 minutes” he has before a band arrives for a session. He prints sine waves from Pro Tools internal signal generator to seperate tracks, with different types of metering, before flipping the phase of one, causing it to totally null; this means the audio from the two tracks is exactly the same.
The above video takes a more holistic approach, stating that maybe we’re chasing ghosts, and looking for excuses as to why we’re not happy with our mixes. While Bob Horn is a world-renowned mixer, he’s in the pursuit of the absolute best sound, pursuing tiny, incremental changes in quality overall. For the rest of us, it can be used as crutch as to why we’re unhappy. It’s not our fault, it’s the meters.
Melbourne’s own Simon Moro weighed in as well, looping sections of songs and focusing on different elements while switching between metering options.
Here’s the kicker in all of this: if you believe meters sound different, they probably will. Mixing and mastering is a wormhole of placebo effects, as is a bunch of the tricks we use to make mixes sound larger than life. There’s a lot of psychoacoustic elements at play here, but you’ll ultimately have to decide for yourself.
Regardless of whether a digital meter can make or break your mix, understanding metering is really important. Keep watching here.
