PSPaudioware PSP Metra v1.2.1 [WiN-MAC]

• Product: PSP Metra
• Publisher: PSPaudioware
• Version: 1.2.1
• Format: VST, VST3, AAX, AU
• Requirements: Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.14 or later
• Source: pspaudioware.com/products/psp-metra

PSP Metra is a dedicated metering and real‑time analysis plugin by PSPaudioware that combines peak, RMS, VU, dynamics, stereo image, and full loudness‑standard monitoring (LUFS, LRA, PLR, PSR, True Peak) in a single window. It runs as a VST, VST3, AU, and AAX plugin, offering multiple views (Metra, Minimal, History, Loudness, Goniometer/Lissajous) and up to 120 seconds of level history, with customizable ballistics, colors, and scales. Designed for mixing, mastering, and broadcast engineers who need trustworthy loudness and dynamics data rather than processing, it leaves audio untouched while providing standards‑compliant metering for music, streaming, and broadcast deliveries.

Key Takeaway

PSP Metra is the “everything in one glance” meter that finally feels like a serious mastering tool, not a pretty toy – fast, dense with information, but readable enough that you actually keep it open while you work. If loudness targets, dynamics, and stereo health matter to your day‑to‑day, it’s one of the few meters that can realistically replace a small pile of separate plugins.

Trusting the Numbers

The first mix I dropped Metra onto was already “done” – peaks sitting just under zero, streaming target hit, client happy. I wasn’t expecting surprises.

Metra immediately felt like walking into a control room with a really good set of hardware meters. The main Metra View puts RMS, True Peak, PLR/PSR dynamics, and stereo correlation in one grid, with loudness values parked at the top and a Lissajous‑style scope waiting off to the side. Nothing about the sound changed, but the visual story did:

• The PSR (Peak‑to‑Short‑Term ratio) kept dipping lower than I expected in the chorus, telling me the limiter was working harder than my ears were willing to admit.
• The correlation meter hovered a hair left of center whenever the stereo bus widener kicked in, a subtle little warning light I’d missed on other meters.
• The history trace let me see exactly when the dynamics flattened out over a 60‑second window instead of staring at frozen max values.

It was like someone turned on all the good outboard meters at once, but decluttered them into one screen.

What Metra Actually Measures

Metra is four tools stapled together: level, dynamics, stereo, and loudness.

• Level: Sample and True Peak, RMS, VU, and PPM with selectable ballistics and calibration. If you’re used to PSP TripleMeter, this feels like its grown‑up cousin.
• Dynamics: Dynamic Range and Crest Factor, plus PLR and PSR, so you can see both the long‑term peak‑to‑loudness picture and the short‑term punch.
• Stereo: Correlation, left/right balance, advanced goniometer, and Lissajous views for mid/side and phase checking.
• Loudness: Full ITU‑R BS.1770 / EBU R128‑compliant meters – Integrated, Short‑Term, Momentary, Loudness Range (LRA), and True Peak – with presets for EBU, ATSC A/85, Spotify, Apple Music, and other platforms.

The thing that separates Metra from the dozen “loudness meters with extra stuff” is how it treats dynamics and loudness as first‑class citizens. PLR and PSR are baked into the interface, not hidden in a dropdown. You can see, in real time, whether your apparent density is coming from tasteful compression or from smashing transients flat.

For podcast and broadcast work there’s also Dialogue Integrated Loudness using Dolby Dialogue Intelligence™, which can gate non‑speech content and show dialogue‑specific measurements when you need to hit speech‑based specs.

Views: One Plugin, Different Jobs

Metra feels different depending on which view you live in. PSP clearly designed it so you can tailor the visual noise floor to the job at hand.

• Metra View – the default, full‑fat layout: bar meters for level and dynamics, loudness and stereo up top, history traces on the left, and a stereo scope on the right. This is the “mastering desk” view.
• Minimal View – double‑click the meters and you get a compact bar meter with only level plus dynamics or loudness, perfect for keeping in a corner while mixing.
• Loudness View / Loudness Values View – focused on long‑term compliance; you see Integrated, Short‑Term, Momentary, True Peak, LRA, PLR/PSR, and target lines over time.
• History View – shows envelope, peak, and dynamic traces over up to 120 seconds, useful for spotting over‑limited choruses or flat intros at a glance.
• Goniometer & Lissajous Views – detailed stereo field and phase displays; you can flip between a classic goniometer and a Lissajous figure, great for catching weird wideners or accidental mono issues.

A nice touch: Metra lets you show two different measurement panels at once, one on each side, but never duplicates the same one twice – the plugin enforces variety so you’re not wasting screen real estate.

In Real Use: Mixing, Mastering, and Broadcast

The magic of Metra is not that it shows anything wildly new – it’s how little you have to think to get the full picture.

Mixing

On a busy mix day, Metra lives in Minimal View. Peak and RMS give you the familiar “how hot is the bus?” gut check, and the dynamic bar quietly tells you when you’ve turned a punchy chorus into a flat wall. The correlation meter becomes that subtle nudge to back off any stereo tricks before they go too far.

More importantly, the plugin never touches the audio. There’s no temptation to “quickly shave a dB” or tweak EQ. It’s pure information; any changes happen back in the mix.

Mastering

In mastering, Metra View + Loudness View is where it earns its keep. You can watch:

• Integrated loudness creeping toward your target,
• Short‑Term loudness during drops and choruses,
• PLR telling you how much macro‑headroom you’re leaving,
• PSR showing instant punch on transients,
• True Peak keeping you honest for inter‑sample overs.

For album work, the history trace makes it easy to line up relative loudness and density song‑to‑song, without relying on printed notes.

Broadcast / Streaming

With the presets for EBU R128, ATSC A/85, and various streaming platforms, Metra becomes a “did I hit spec?” gatekeeper you can trust. The Dialogue mode is particularly handy for VO‑heavy content: instead of eyeballing Integrated LUFS and guessing how much of it is music, you get speech‑weighted values that actually match platform expectations.

Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Truly unified view of level, dynamics, stereo, and loudness – one plugin can replace several metering tools.	No offline or file‑based analysis; everything is real‑time only, which can be slower for longform QC.
Full ITU‑R BS.1770 / EBU R128 compliance with PLR, PSR, LRA, True Peak, and optional Dolby Dialogue loudness.	Learning curve for newer engineers: PLR/PSR and dynamic metrics can feel like overkill until you know what you’re looking for.
Multiple views (Metra, Minimal, History, Loudness, Goniometer/Lissajous) tailored to mixing, mastering, and broadcast workflows.	GUI is information‑dense; on small laptops the full Metra View can feel cramped.
Highly customizable ballistics, scales, and colors; scalable high‑resolution interface, stereo/mono and mid/side analysis.	Pricing sits above most “free or cheap” loudness meters; value lands best for people who use it daily.
Never processes audio – zero risk of accidental clipping or coloration; it’s pure analysis with optional weighted filters only for monitoring.	If you already rely on something like Insight, VisLM, or Youlean Pro, Metra is more of an upgrade in ergonomics than a must‑have new capability.

FAQs

Final Verdict

PSP Metra is the kind of plugin you forget is a plugin. It sits on the master bus, quietly telling you when a chorus is crushing your dynamics, when your stereo field is drifting, or when your streaming master is flirting with the loudness ceiling – without ever touching the audio itself.

If you care about hitting loudness specs, preserving dynamics, and keeping stereo honest, Metra feels less like a luxury and more like finally having a trustworthy set of meters that speak the same language in one window.