Quirky fact: VU strands for Volume Unit. The VU meter was designed (a long time ago) to measure the overall loudness of a signal. These days we have LU (Loudness Unit) which is a much better measure of perceived loudness. So no, you really don’t need a VU meter these days.
Even in the 70’s most engineers referred to VU meters as Virtually Useless.
And yes, I’m THAT old.