Evergreen Audio recently released version 2 of its Post Production Metering Suite, swiftly followed by a further update which introduced the much-requested Dante support. Following Nathaniel Reichman’s comprehensive review of version 1, Sound Designer and Re-recording Mixer, Roger Guérin checks out some of the new features of version 2…

If you’re like me, you have a plethora of plugins with their own little quirks that save the day. Although meters don’t add a special spark or a magical aura, meters save the day on a regular basis. Of course every DAW has their own metering scheme, most with different ballistics, but we have to admit they are basically… small.

In comes Bob Brown. Bob defines himself as a software developer, and thankfully for us, he is a musician of the bass playing allegiance. While being good at maths and science, early on he knew he wanted to combine both passions. After studying electrical engineering, he got a job at Digidesign. Working in different departments for close to fifteen years, fixing bugs, implementing features such as audio-video sync, machine control, he was one of the original engineers that worked on Avid’s satellite protocol, and so much more. Then, he went to Yahoo doing mobile development, jumped to Digital Theater System (DTS) as well as consulting for different companies. With such a great track record, I suspect the man knows his Pro Tools inside out.

Then, while talking to a friend that was in the midst of buying a bunch of interfaces to combine different stems to be able to meter in one manageable area, sarcastically, the friend suggested that it could all be done in software. That made Bob think, yeah with all his expertise at Avid, Yahoo and DTS, he could combine networking audio measurements for a large system. After a few weeks, Bob’s friend was flabbergasted at the prototype and shortly after, the Massive Meter was born.

Sounds Fantastic, But What Does It Do?

Basically, it’s two-fold: the first part is a regular plugin, the Massive Meter, that you would insert on your subgroups (or what have you) and then, you have a separate software, the Massive Meter Bridge (MMB), that scans all available instances of the plugin and presents it to you in one central configurable mega meter. Very convenient.

Differences Between Different Versions

To note, all versions support from mono, 9.1.6 to Ambiosonics 7

Scaling Adjustments

Some presets exist, but by default the meter goes from – infinity to 0, not always practical, but what you can do is click drag what they call the Tic Measurements on the side and adjust to taste. A good start is -40 dB. But if you’re a bit worried about what goes on below that, just activate the Signal Presence Indicator, a row of boxes will appear. Nice touch.

Better yet, if you want to focus on one of the Stems, in the MMB, just double click its Meter, it will occupy the full screen. Double click again to return to its original state.
Speaking of aesthetics, a good number of colour choices are available, better yet you can adjust the gap between the meters. It might sound mundane, but when you have a fair number of meters, it’s sweet to be able to scan-and-seek rapidly.

Mono Meter Crash Down

While listening to different podcasts or YouTube content, the term Crash Down keeps popping out, with a different connotation to me. They mean some sort of DownMix (Fold Down is also nice), not an actual system crash. So this feature is useful when you have too many meters going at once and you don’t need to see all the information from all the meters all the time. The Crash Down feature enables you to consolidate a 7.1.4 meter, let’s say, to a mono meter (the loudest channel), eating up less screen real estate. And if screen real estate is a concern, you can pick and choose what you wish to monitor, then drag and rearrange to your visual pleasure.

You might think that this is only good for post production work with a three-position team, each running their assigned rig with different needs with the ability to meter different elements and you would be partially right. But, consider this scenario: you have a full orchestra with pre-recorded tracks. In this chaos, the ability to have meters making sure everything is at its optimal setting is more than reassuring at best!

And if you’re more into rock, pop, jazz, etc., you could also benefit from having centralised metering while you’re recording. Regardless of your DAW those little meters beside the faders get to be mesmerising to read when you have a room full of inspired performers. The added feature of having a BIG RED box with the offending track’s name when it is overloading is a welcome gift.

Furthermore, if you’re not into manuals and need a quick answer, their YouTube channel has a bunch of snippets on their most popular features. A straight-to-the-point approach.

Another great feature is their free IOS application. Yes, you can monitor the MMB on your iPad, rendering the process extremely portable without the need to sacrifice another screen, or tabletop space for that matter.

Always evolving, Bob has now integrated Dante in the chain, two channels are offered for free and you can upgrade up to 64 channels for a more complex setup.

As you might expect, there’s much more sweetness under the hood, such as linking same width meters (ie. two 7.1), giving the ability to have both meters (meter A, meter B) on the same meter (meter A&B). Practical for PEC/Direct style level matching. Other niceties include having the name on top or at the bottom, the ability to monitor Core Audio devices, etc.

The future also looks promising with plenty of ideas and applications, and with today’s increasing paranoia on loudness specifications, a Loudness Meter is in the works.

Supported Systems

• macOS Mojave 10.14 through Ventura 13. MacOS Sonoma is also supported.

• Pro Tools 12 and above

• Any VST3 compatible DAW

• Massive Meter Bridge macOS and iOS

The possibilities seem to be endless, and you can give it a spin for free with a fully working version for 14 days.