Why did audio meters change in DR17 compared to 16?

Hi all,
I’ve just upgraded from Resolve 16 to 17. I’m quite annoyed by the new main 1 audio meters. The level scale color doesn’t match the audio tracks scale.

Meters in Resolve 16 (got from a tutorial on YouTube)

Resolve 16 audio meters2.jpg (37.56 KiB) Viewed 1669 times

My meters in Resolve 17

Resolve 17 audio meters2.jpg (38.56 KiB) Viewed 1669 times

The volume level is now getting yellow from -10dB and red (clipping) from -5dB instead of -18 and -10/-9dB in DR16.

I set the target loudness level to -14LUFS (for YouTube)
The new absolute scale feature only applies to loudness meter. The “New features guide” (February 2021) doesn’t mention anyting about Fairlight differences between Resolve 16 and 17.

It’s getting difficult now to rely on the main 1 output level to compare and adjust the different clips audio.

Is there a way to display the output levels the same way as for Resolve 16?
Thanks in advance

I noticed this, too.

Is there a way to display the output levels the same way as for Resolve 16?

Track and Buss metering levels match in Resolve Studio 17.1.1 on macOS, so I suspect a Project preference is at play on your system.

User definable Buss meter level preferences are available in:
Project Preferences > Fairlight > Audio Metering.

I noticed this, too.

How do you deal with that?

User definable Buss meter level preferences are available in:
Project Preferences > Fairlight > Audio Metering.

Thanks Reynaud for your answer.

Indeed I checked the settings in audio metering before posting. The bus meter low level and high level are respectively set to -10 and -5dBFS. I didn’t change these values thinking it was set by default. I don’t remember how the settings were in Resolve 16. So I compared with others on YouTube tutorials who got the same settings but different color range of the bus meters. Strangely.
I also checked the Audio Metering section in the 2020 August Reference manual (page 170) and they “forgot” to write a description for Bus meter alignment level, bus meter high/low level.

When I set the bus meter levels at -18 (low level) and -9 (high level), track and bus metering levels now match.

Are -10 and -5dBFS the reference values for bus meter low/high levels? Should I leave these values this way?

Are -10 and -5dBFS the reference values for bus meter low/high levels? Should I leave these values this way?

The defaults should be -18dBFS (low level which matches lineup level) and -9dBFS (high level) as this matches the Track metering.

Within Resolve and external metering on my systems, the high level is always configured to indicate 6dB of headroom below maximum True Peak level (-3dBTP) and so the default setting of -9dBFS matches that.

The defaults should be -18dBFS (low level which matches lineup level) and -9dBFS (high level) as this matches the Track metering.
Within Resolve and external metering on my systems, the high level is always configured to indicate 6dB of headroom below maximum True Peak level (-3dBTP) and so the default setting of -9dBFS matches that.

Thanks Reynaud for the precise information!

How do you deal with that?

I pay more attention to Loudness.