Ok,
So I am mastering two new albums I want to put out, and I am a little confused about loudness, LUFS, streaming specs, etc., though I have an arsenal of tools and such, and feel I am getting the handle of good mix.
Don’t laugh when I present my dilemma.
The availability of online tools and VSTs lets you see where you line up with streaming specs. I won’t discuss CDs since no one really buys them.
In the past, I usually shot for about 16 to 18 LUFS with – 2dB headroom. (I never like to max it out.)
When I run my stuff through a tool like this:
https://www.loudnesspenalty.com/#It almost always says I am 2 or 3dB over the limit, and so Spotify, for example, will reduce it by that much.
SO, I have started exporting at about 20 to 18, or 19 LUFS, and that keeps me almost exactly in line with Spotify specs, but the headroom is always about -5 dB, and the DR is at a pleasant 11 or 12. (A target for me.)
If that is the case, why does anyone master any louder, or normalize to -1 dB, if Spotify will always turn it down?
In other words, any normalization I do by any means that brings a track to -1 or -2, or even -3 dB always makes it too loud LUFS-wise for Spotify.
So how much headroom do you want? And why would you master loud???
Screenshots of a weird example are below, from of all people, Glen Campbell, on his final album. The LUFS comes in at a horrendous 6, the wave looks like a blue brick, and it has a Spotify penalty of –7.4!!!
Why would anyone master that way in the first place?
I am confused now at what the targets and numbers should be and I thought I had it all figured out.
As a reference, most of the stuff I have been posting on the forum the past year has headroom of about -2 dB, and the LUFS have ranged from 10-14, approximately. So far, I have received compliments on the mixes.
Again, don’t laugh if I am being stupid, but I am confused about loudness targets now.
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