Відео

You're welcome!

Not sure how it's done on other services, but in this scenario, Spotify will gain up to -1TP without limiting, so if your master is at -16lufs -1TP, it will stay at -16lufs after normalization, so nothing would change.I think its the same with Apple, and UA-cam music will not normalize upward at all. I pointed that out in my video. That's when using their App, might be different using the browser version, who knows. :-)

@@mixdownonline Oh thanks, that must have changed then? I know from other mastering engineers that brick wall limiters are used by some streaming services if they raise the gain of your track to avoid peak distortion when converting to lossy formats. If Spotify only raises the TP to -1.0 as their yardstick then you are right, your track could be quieter than others. Confusing even for those of us with experience!

Cannot agree more! Thanks for your input!

Of course!

Let me know if that helps ua-cam.com/video/j_fPr0qlvns/v-deo.htmlsi=I1ZPrII6wjrP0bFD

@@mixdownonline thanks 🙏

Is that what you got from the video? Sorry for my French!

Thank you!

Of course, glad I could help!

Finally a normal person

The level of your mixes before mastering makes no difference at all. I've mastered mixes that were at -24 integrated LUFS that ended up at -11 or -10 for example. It's your peaks that matter most. Now, if you are compressing and limiting your mix to get it to -10 or so, you should probably not bother mastering the track. If you're using 2 bus compression for flavor or groove, thats ok but don't overdo it. I've received metal mixes that were CRUSHED to -3 or -4 integrated LUFS with an LRA of 1 or 2 db! I requested a mix without the heavy processing, mastered both and sent them as No.1 and No.2 They always choose the version without heavy mix bus processing. We need to stop crushing the life out of music and give it room to breathe. Chasing loudness is a dead end. Exciting dynamics is the goal regardless of the loudness level. Cheers from SoundArtMastering.

Of course!

Thank you!

Of course!

Im on the frontline bro!

@@tracktaylor2783 Thanx, Chris, for reacting to my post. That`s become rare nowadays. ;-)

Of course!

Not wrong but I recommend you add the gain while working on the file to make sure you like the sound of the limiting. Otherwise you have to check after the render, adjust and measure again, then maybe repeat...

What's fake news? You clearly didn't watch the video

You can make it -6 if you want and yes they will lower it. Problem is, if you would’ve just mastered at -14 your master would’ve sounded much better

The way this version was processed, yes.

You're welcome, my friend!

(I posted this above) Please, don't AIM for a specific LUFS level. Each genre, each track, requires a different mastering approach to get the desired result. (Notice I said 'desired result' because it's always subjective.) Pay attention to how much limiting you are applying. Some tracks will need very little compression and limiting to make them sound good. Use your ears and always use good reference tracks of a similar genre or style. If your track ends up sounding great and hits -11.6 integrated LUFS with a TP of -1.4 that's cool. If it ends up sounding great at -9.2 with a TP of -0.4 that's fine too! If it sounds great at -14 with a TP of -1.8 go with it! Don't become meter-blind. I've measured hundreds of commercial tracks by top engineers and they NEVER aim for a specific loudness target. USE YOUR EARS. Then use the metering options to confirm (!) that your TP is ok. But don't master your track by following numbers on meters. It takes more time and experience to be able to do this consistently and get good results but it's worth the effort. Cheers from SoundArtMastering!

That's awesome!

Of course!

When normalized, which is ON by default on Spotify, all songs are played at the same loudness level. If you have songs where this is not the case, send the song title my way :-)

@@mixdownonline St Vincent - Flea -6.6 Integrated

@@mixdownonline I try to give you an answer but the comment is deleted...

@@jordiguzman weird, I didn't see any other comments 🤔

@@mixdownonline For example Flea of St. Vincent

Not sure that's accurate, but if you have songs you know that are louder with normalization ON, feel free to send names my way

^^ Chris is right, I’ve been watching this for years and never seen any evidence of “loudness for money”

Normalization is ON by default on streaming services, so most people don't even know you can turn it OFF, and don't care. And by listening to a loud lufs master normalized to -14lufs, is just like using a volume knob to turn down the volume, normalizing will not remove all the compression, clipping, and limiting the artist used to make it loud in the first place. You will just listen to the song the way the artist intended, loud, but at a lower volume. My take is I don't care much about how loud other productions ends up at. I master it as loud that I think acceptable without sacrificing the sound quality. Thanks for your comment, my friend :-)

​@@mixdownonlineOh yeah - I totally agree with your position of mastering to make it sound good, not to a LUFS target. But with all the back and forth on the interwebs about the -14 LUFS target, it took me forever to 'get' what Spotify was 'really' saying when they posted that target. Now I get it, and it's all about volume normalization. I've literally never heard anyone actually say that's where the -14 LUFS number came from. So I thought I'd share that little nugget. Thanks again for all your great work!

Sorry, I disagree totally with your assertion that turning off normalization allows you to hear the song "the way the artist intended." Raising or lowering the gain does not change what the artist intended in any way. If you want it louder, turn it up. Remember that LUFS is an internal measurement. You can't say to a consumer "Please listen to my album at -10 LUFS to hear what I intended." What you could say is "listen to my album at ear-splitting levels as I intended." LUFS levels mean nothing to the consumer.

@@gregpastic6910 Fair enough. But if an artist masters a song at any volume, and they bought off as the master as being 'acceptable', then it IS as they intended. Certainly, Spotify, Apple Music or whatever music streaming service you chose purposefully turning the volume down is not as the artist intended. It is as Spotify intended. All that aside, and to your point, turning the volume down doesn't change the song or how it feels. But I think it's all about playlist management. That is, some users want all their songs in a playlist to all be at the same volume. And that's certainly a nice feature for some users. But I don't need it nor want it. I like my music provided raw/native. To each their own. But, for me, I found the whole -14 LUFS thing totally confusing cause I never had volume normalization turned on. And I was listening to my songs and songs from playlisted artists and finding most everything was in the -7 to -8 LUFS range. Hence the confusion about 1) what as the source of -14 LUFS target and 2) why no one was actually mastering to it. Now I know, and I just wanted to share what I learned. Literally no one on you tube or wherever talks about the source of the -14 LUFS target. They just say streaming services 'turn your music down' but don't ever say what that actually means. Now I know. If you buy a CD or an album, I guarantee the music won't be at streaming levels.

@@Stormsurf001 I understand you are still learning, and I don't mean to sound critical. But you don't seem to understand that if Spotify turns your music down all your listener has to do is turn it back up. Nothing has been changed. I also disagree with your statement that "...turning the volume down doesn't change the song or how it feels." Our entire perception of dynamics and frequency response changes as volume is turned up and down. If you mix a track at 60 db c-weighted average and then listen to it at 80 db you will be shocked at the difference. That's why all pro mix and mastering engineers have usually just two volume levels to work at that are measured at the listening position with a decibel meter. But the consumer has to manage volume changes all the time as they struggle to hear music in the car, in the busy street, on the train...but they are NOT critical listeners so it doesn't matter. Cheers and keep on learning by asking questions. 🙂

In my option, mastering the loud sections at -10 LUFS (short term) is a great place to be. The integrated value will be somewhere between -14 and -10, depending how much variety there is, and it’ll sound great almost everywhere. The problem with “aiming” at an integrated target like -9 or whatever is that if there’s a lot of variety, the loudest moments could get really crushed - and for very little benefit. As far as I can tell, more than 80% of online users are hearing things with normalisation on…

It's style dependant, yes. But I will not sacrifice sound quality for more loudness

@@mixdownonline no need to get so defensive about it😁 It's just a fact. As you said yourself, not all platforms can lift the loudness if your mix is quieter than others, and some platforms don't have loudness normalization at all. So if a person listens to a mix mastered to -13 lufs after a professional one (!!!) in the same genre that's up to -6 lufs, the quieter mix would just sound weak especially in more aggressive genres. For example, I listen to various symphonic metal artists on VK music and it doesn't have any normalization (at least not in a browser version, same as the browser version of Spotify, btw). And I can't really listen to the latest album by Nightwish (one of the biggest bands in this genre!) because it's mastered to something like -14 -12 lufs, while other bands in this niche have albums mastered to -8 -6 lufs, as I said before. So it's the same thing as 20 years ago, with cranking up one song and lowering another after it blasts your ears off

Please can you share a link to some of the examples you’re thinking of ? I completely understand that on platforms with no moralisation, quieter stuff won’t stand up as well, but based on the numbers I’ve found, those platforms are in the minority (<20%) But the argument that the -6 masters will still sound as loud even when played at -14 (or wherever) is something I hear a lot, and every time I test it that’s not what I hear. So I’d really like some examples to check and hear this for myself 👍

@@ProductionAdvice as I said, my main concern is for platforms with NO normalization. And, again, even Spotify and Apple Music web browser players DON'T have it. It's reason enough for me to have my masters be as loud as the competition, though again, it's style dependent. If you want specific examples in symphonic metal, try listening to a song from Nightwish's "Human Nature" album between, for instance, latest tracks by Whithin Temptation or Xandria in either Spotify or Apple web versions.

@@Revontuletband I totally get your point that you’re concerned about masters not being loud enough on platforms with no normalisation, but they do only account for less than 20% of the audience. Most people use Spotify & Apple on mobile or desktop - personally I’ve literally never used a browser player, for example. Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll check them out. So if a track by Nightwish comes on, you just skip it ?

Love it!

Same here