How loud should your master be?

What the number means

Every service measures Integrated loudness: the average loudness of the whole song, in LUFS. A short loud chorus does not decide it, the song as a whole does.

How loud the hits are

Measurements of recent chart hits land mostly between −6 and −10 LUFS, with the bulk around −7 to −9. Upbeat pop, dance and hip-hop sit at the loud end, ballads and country nearer −10. That is 5 to 8 dB above Spotify's target, so Spotify plays most hits several dB quieter than they were mastered.

Why they still master loud

Turning a track down does not undo the limiting. A loud master keeps its dense, upfront sound at any volume, and that sound is part of modern pop. Listeners can also switch normalization off, and plenty of places play a file as it is.

What it costs

Every dB of limiting takes some punch out of the drums and some life out of the mix. On a streaming service the extra loudness itself is gone, so all that remains is the sound of the limiting. Whether that is worth it depends on the music.

Quieter than the target

Spotify turns it up, but only as far as its peaks allow: it keeps 1 dB of headroom. YouTube and Tidal only turn loud tracks down, so a quiet master stays quiet there.

What to aim for

• Pop, dance and hip-hop: −7 to −9 LUFS is where commercial releases sit. Go there when you like how it sounds, not because you have to.
• More dynamic music such as acoustic, jazz and many ballads: −10 to −14 LUFS keeps more of the punch.
• True peak: Spotify asks for −1 dBTP, or −2 dBTP when your master is louder than −14 LUFS, because the conversion to AAC or Ogg adds peaks that can clip. Many loud hits ignore this and measure +1 to +2 dBTP. Under −1 is the safe choice; going over is a trade some engineers make for loudness.

Keep an eye on it in Ableton Live

Checking loudness usually means opening a meter plugin on your master. MasterBar sits above Live and shows Integrated, Short-term and True Peak the whole time you work. Choose your target, from −16 to −6, and it tells you how far you are from it. See the loudness meter.

Questions

• Should I master to −14 LUFS? Only if you like how it sounds. −14 is the level Spotify plays at, not the level hits are mastered at. Most chart pop sits around −7 to −9.
• Is a loud master louder on Spotify? No. Spotify turns it down to −14 LUFS. It keeps the dense sound of the limiting, but not the extra volume.
• Why do loud hits go over 0 dBTP? The limiter stops every sample at 0 dBFS, but the waveform between the samples rises higher. A sample peak meter misses that, a true peak meter shows it.
• Does Spotify turn my track up when it is quieter? Yes, toward −14 LUFS, but only as far as the peaks of your track allow.
• Why does Apple Music play my track quieter? Its target is −16 LUFS, two dB below Spotify's, so it turns the same master down a little further.