Originally Posted by Andrew Dee
Originally Posted by Janice & Bud
My experience has been that 14 LUFS is very quiet for SoudCloud.
They are apparently one of the few platforms that make no adjustments to what you upload.

I'm a big fan of loundnesspenalty.com - free and no signup required and very fast.
It only takes a few seconds to see how and if your song will be altered by the platforms.
I use this as a basis for all my mastering.

A LOT of the forum songs would require huge changes by the platforms as many are very loud.
And the changes made my the platforms can introduce artifacts IMHO.

You can check it out here at this safe link.
https://www.loudnesspenalty.com
Thanks Bud - excuse my questions in ignorance - I've only learned of LUFS existence due to Noel's thread and still learning DAW and mixing stuff as I go. I had wondered why my songs posted had different volumes on different sites.
Do you aim for a LUFS target before checking with loudnesspenalty.com, or do you go by experience and feel and then just check it with loudnesspenalty.com before posting?
If it's too loud, do you use a limiter on your master track final mix? If you do target LUFS, is it the 'integrated' measure, or do you use short range measure for the peak section of the track?
Andrew

Firstly I try to adjust my limiter (final fx in my mastering chain) to leave plenty of dynamics including peaks that some folks would squash.
We like open/airy mixes irrespective of the genre we are working with. Also we've learned to trust what we hear on our Kali monitors (8" woofer).
I'll listen to the mix on the "big" living room system but nearly always go with what we heard on the monitors.
And unlike many folks I never mix or master with headphones. I want a sound like I'm sitting in the center of the third row of a live band in a good hall.

I then use Logic Pro's Loudness Meter to look at the LUFS. Depending on the tune 10-12 integrated works for us.
The 14 thing is not written in stone. And the 10-12 typically results in a file that is little altered by the platforms.

Like mixing, mastering is rarely "finished" ... just abandoned. One can parse things out until all the joy is sucked out of the process. smile

You will get many opinions on my process with a lot of folks saying all I typed above is dead wrong.

Oh one other thing I forgot. I frequently use a reference song. Meaning I'll listen to a similar tune that I think is well done several times during mixing and mastering.
This is to keep the notion in my old brain of how I would like for the production to sound. Works for me.

A truckload of FWIWs and YMMV's.

Bud

Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more.
If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks!
Our Videos are here on our website.