For example, there are strict standards for audio books but nobody is sitting there watching meters while listening to the whole book… The file is scanned. The software can scan the file to find/calculate the peak, RMS, EBU R 128, etc. And for that you don’t need a real-time meter. Then you can normalize or otherwise deal with “loudness” in post-production.
It is nice to have some kind of meter so you can tell if you loose the signal, or in case something goes wrong but you don’t have to get the levels “just right”.
Otherwise, the levels are not critical at all! Pros often record at -12 to -18dB (with high-quality 24-bit equipment, of course). The peaks are super-critical because you NEVER want to clip your ADC (or DAC). I like the analog look, but the meter has got to show the digital peaks. I don’t know what your plans are for this meter, but a VU meter isn’t appropriate for digital recording.
