I read that Spotify wants a loudness of -14 dB LUFS integrated and a -1 dB true peak. What’s the best way to achieve that? Setting the limiter ceiling at -1 dB feels like wasting a dB of headroom for no good reason. Is that how people do it, or is it the common practice to e.g. aim for -0.1 dB true peak and a slightly higher integrated LUFS of maybe -13 dB instead and letting Spotify bring the mix down a dB?
I just mixed and mastered to my normal standards and Distrokid or Spotify (I don’t remember which) handled making it “stream ready.” I wouldn’t even worry about it unless your music is super quiet or you’re trying to get picked up on a playlist.
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Was just curious if there’s a best practice. My songs are typically around -14 dB LUFS anyway but I was surprised about the -1 dB true peak requirement.
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the LUFS and true peak on this are way above those “recommended” values.
and whether it’s on a tinny radio speaker or massive club system it sounds just great.
what’s occurring here… ? have they (and every other pre streaming hit) sneaked out some streaming masters to comply?
i’m not clear on the rules, and the background admin involved.
(i don’t use spotify so don’t know how it sounds on there)
But wouldn’t you have to listen at Spotify, to the Spotify mix? Each platform has their own requirements and if you go above, they’ll turn the track down (I guess the limit it down?), if you go below, the platform levels it up.
A track doesn’t have to sound bad as a result if this, but it can.
There’s a software that lets you test how your track sounds on different platforms, you could also check how your track sounds and if you can get away with higher peak levels, but why not set the limiter to -1dbfs? All other tracks will be similar anyway?
They convert your wave file into a different format and this conversion adds about a db which means your file will probably clip if you don’t give it a db true peak. Don’t do the -14 though, master to a bit higher than that, at least -10/-12 if you don’t want to take it to -8
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Could you clarify what you meant with this? Do you make sure your mixdown meets the -1 dB true peak requirement or do you mix it to 0 dB true peak and let Spotify handle the conversions?
That’s more than “a bit higher” though isn’t it? Why aim for such loudness as -8?
If you bounce a wav peaking at x number true peak, and convert that file into any other format like mp3 or whatever, that file will now peak x+1 true peak.
I master with a 1db true peak headroom for streaming platforms for this reason cause they don’t just play the wave, each service will convert that wave into a different format that their system supports. It’s out of your control other than ensure this won’t negatively impact your music.
Regarding loudness, -8 is what appears to be the sweet spot for loud masters for club djs. Not extremely loud, not too quiet. 
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…even in most action loudnesswar days, it was a hard rule to close in hard on -0.3 db topnotch in all brickwall limiting…for those famous interclipping peaks, that just happen due to various compressed formats…
today it’s common sense to make that -0.3 a -1db to be always on the safe side…digital distortion is not nice and one db headroom for interpeaking is a good thing…
while that -14 in lufs measurement is a diffferent thing and even if it brought an end to loudness war, it’s pretty conservative…
do ur masterings the favour of that -1db deadend…but in actual perceivied loudness, u can easily aim around -8 to -10…all streamingfarms will turn it down a little to their average of -14 to even -16 in lufs…which gets u the “better” results as if they have to push ur final loudness up to match their standards again…
modern “hits” all aim at lufs around -7 to - 10…not -14…but they all take care for truu peak max of - 1…
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Thanks! The loudness is clear then, aiming for around -12 dB LUFS integrated (I have no plans to play my music at a club 
).
I’m still not sure what you mean with the true peak, should I set the limiter to -1 dB true peak when exporting? Edit: I think I understand you now. It used to be -0.3 dB and now it’s typically -1 dB, so yes, I should export at that setting. Thanks!
Yes, -1 dB TP for exporting masters that will go to streaming.
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-14 is a lie, my last EP was mastered to -14 and it is very quiet… our next EP the mixer who mixed it and does a ton of streaming music mixed it to -7, and said that’s his normal target.
Even if Spotify turns it down a more squashed mix will sound louder.
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the -1db true peak is for lossy format conversion, when you convert your wav to mp3/aac your track can clip depending on the conversion rate, the less quality the more you can peak, so 1db gives enough room for the conversion artifacts that cause clipping
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Yeah, I understood that finally, and even more clearly now thanks to you!
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