Should I master to −6 LUFS so my track competes?

The arithmetic

A service with a −14 LUFS target lowers a −6 LUFS track by 8 dB. Beside it, a −12 LUFS master is lowered by 2 dB. Both now play at the same loudness. The second one still has 6 dB more distance between its peaks and its average level, and that is heard as punch.

What the last decibels cost

Loudness beyond what the mix gives freely comes from a limiter or clipper cutting off peaks. Peaks are the transients: the front of the kick, the crack of the snare. Each decibel of extra loudness removes about a decibel of them. Past a certain point the drums stop hitting, the mix sounds flat and tiring, and low notes distort.

Where loud still matters

• Clubs and DJ sets. DJ software plays files at the level they were made, so a quiet master sounds weak beside the track before it.
• Downloads and physical formats, which are played back without normalisation.
• Genres where the limiting is part of the sound. Much electronic music and modern metal is mastered between −6 and −9 LUFS on purpose, for the density that heavy limiting gives.

In those cases, loud is a decision about the sound, not about competing on a streaming service.

A workable target

For a streaming release, anywhere from −14 to −9 LUFS integrated, judged by how the master sounds, with a true-peak ceiling of −1 dBTP. A master somewhat above the target loses little. A master at −6 LUFS has usually been damaged to get there.

In Zammoth

Auto Mix offers four loudness choices: Streaming at −14 LUFS, Apple and Podcast at −16, Club at −8, and Ceiling only, which sets no loudness target. The engineer measures the peak-to-loudness ratio of the master and flags over-limiting, and in a mix run it cannot set the master's ceiling above −1 dBTP. See how to master to −14 LUFS for streaming.