If you are preparing a song for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or another streaming service, you have probably heard people say that your master should be exactly -14 LUFS.
That advice is useful as a reference, but it is not a universal mastering rule.
What is LUFS?
LUFS stands for Loudness Units relative to Full Scale. It is a standardized way of measuring perceived loudness rather than simply measuring the highest sample in an audio file.
Integrated LUFS looks at the overall loudness of a track over its duration. This makes it particularly useful when evaluating music for distribution.
Should every song be mastered to -14 LUFS?
No. A target such as -14 LUFS should not be treated as a mandatory mastering level.
Streaming platforms can apply loudness normalization during playback. This means a louder master may simply receive more attenuation rather than sounding louder to the listener.
Why does mastering to the same LUFS not make every song sound the same?
LUFS does not describe everything about a recording. Two songs can have similar integrated loudness while sounding very different because of their dynamics, frequency balance, transient content and true peak.
What should you actually check?
- Integrated loudness in LUFS
- True peak level
- Loudness range
- Peak-to-loudness ratio
- Clipping
- Frequency balance
- Stereo balance
This gives you much more useful information than chasing one loudness number.
Use LUFS as information, not a target to blindly hit
The right loudness depends on the material, genre, dynamics and mastering decisions. The important thing is understanding what will happen to your master when it reaches playback systems.
Measure your track, understand the numbers, then make the mastering decision.
LoudCheck measures integrated LUFS, true peak, loudness range, PLR and other audio characteristics to help evaluate tracks before distribution.