StudioToolsPreview & meters
Listen to a file before you change it. The preview panel at the bottom of the window plays the selected file, shows its waveform and markers, and meters level and loudness as it plays.
Show or hide the panel with the waveform button in the toolbar. Selecting a file loads it into the preview.
Playing files
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Play / Pause | Start or pause playback (Space). |
| Stop | Stop and return to the start (Esc). |
| Loop | Play the file over and over. |
| Auto-play | Start playing as soon as the selection changes. Use ↑/↓ to audition one file after another. |
| Channels | What to listen to — see channel modes. |
| Volume | Playback volume. Doesn't affect the meters. |
The waveform
- Each channel gets its own lane — a stereo file shows two, a 5.1 file six.
- The part that has been played is tinted, and a line marks the playhead.
- Click or drag in the waveform to jump to that position.
- Hover to see the time under the pointer.
- Markers stored in the file (cue points, e.g. from a Pro Tools or Logic bounce) are drawn as vertical lines with their names.
“Starts at” — the Broadcast Wave timestamp
Broadcast Wave files remember where they were recorded on the DAW timeline — the time reference. When a file has one, the preview shows starts at with the time of day, and hovering the waveform shows the timeline position under the pointer. It is the same position Pro Tools uses when you spot a clip to its original timestamp. Learn more about the time reference →
Channel modes
For stereo files, the channel menu changes what you hear — without changing the file.
- Stereo
- Left and right as they are.
- Left only / Right only
- One channel, in both speakers. Useful to check what each side contains.
- Mono sum (L+R)
- Both channels mixed to mono — how the file sounds on a mono speaker. Phase problems show up as a thin or hollow sound.
- Difference (L−R)
- The right channel subtracted from the left. Everything that is the same on both sides cancels out. This is the null test, below.
Files with more than two channels get a second menu to solo a single channel; Channels 1–2 plays the first pair.
Hearing dual mono: the null test
A dual-mono file has identical left and right channels. Subtract one from the other and nothing is left: choose Difference (L−R) and press Play. If you hear silence and the meters stay down, the channels are identical. Anything you do hear is what makes the file truly stereo — reverb tails, panning, a stereo effect.
The dual-mono analysis does the same comparison exactly, sample by sample. The null test lets you hear it — handy when a file is almost dual mono and you want to judge whether the difference matters.
Level and loudness meters
The meter strip next to the waveform shows the level and loudness of what you hear. Show or hide it with the meter button in the preview panel.
- Peak bars
- The sample level of each channel, with a hold line showing the recent maximum. A clip indicator lights when a channel reaches full scale (0 dBFS).
- M — momentary loudness
- Loudness of the last 400 ms, in LUFS. Follows the music closely.
- S — short-term loudness
- Loudness of the last 3 seconds. Steadier; good for judging sections.
- I — integrated loudness
- Loudness of everything played since you started from the beginning — after a full play-through, the loudness of the whole file.
- TP — true peak
- The highest true peak since Play, in dBTP. Highlighted when it goes above −1 dBTP, the usual delivery limit.
- Reset
- Clears integrated loudness, max true peak and the clip indicators.
The meters measure the signal after the channel mode and before the volume control: turning the volume down doesn't change the readings, but switching to Left only does.