Hi!
I've got 15 electropop singles (danceable radio edits).

Ozone 9 tells me that (in the loudest parts of the song)
some of the singles are -6dB RMS, some are -5dB RMS, some are -3dB RMS.
Each single is mastered to its optimal loudness (so that they sound good).

It might be hard to turn up the -6dB RMS songs and make them louder without loosing punch...

But I want my album to have loudness competitive with major artists albums.
When people listen to my track after The Chainsmokers' track I don't want my tracks to lose because of being quieter (when listeners took my track from my album and created their own custom playlists - and they have my tracks next to major artists' tracks)


So what do you recommend?

Should I back off the mastering limiters of my louder (-3db RMS) songs, and make them -6dB RMS? So that all songs on the album are -6dB RMS?

Or I better check the loudness of my 15 songs in LUFS and disregard completely the RMS levels?
And I make all songs have the same LUFS value?

Thanks!!

 

I'll add that most of the 15 songs have (more or less) similar frequency balance in their choruses
(checked in iZotope TonalBalance 2)

 

I would leave each song as it is, because each song is unique. You have set up each song to sound the best it can. Of course, if the songs on the radio or internet platforms are too quiet, they will automatically make them louder and if they are too loud they will automatically make them quieter.

Pro mastering engineer here: forget about the meters and set relative volumes by ear. Master what will be the loudest song on the album first and get it where you want it in terms of RMS and Peak levels. Then make all the other songs relate to it by ear, not by meter.

This may require making some level changes to song intros and outros in order to make transitions work, but again, this must be MUSICAL and sound good by ear. Mastering is NOT about making everything loud as hell. Mastering is about finesse of both the amount of dynamic range processing AND the color of the sound.

Peak level has fuck all to do with perceived loudness.

Turn the too loud stuff down (or compress/limit it a bit less) so that the album as a whole works if that is how you are going to be distributing.

While peaking higher then -1 or so is generally a bad idea, if a particular track does not need to be that hot, that is fine.

Now individual tracks on a streaming service do often get loudness normalised to about -14LuFS (integrated) or so, and those services generally only turn down, so if that matters to you then doing a per track loudness that is greater then -14LuFS is possibly worth considering (That still leaves you space to do the different gains for the tracks on the album thing).

Spoiler: How do streaming services analyze audio material and how is the output loudness determined?

How do streaming services analyze audio material and how is the output loudness determined?

When you upload your songs to Spotify, iTunes, etc., a distinction is first made as to whether it is an album or a single track. If it is a single track, your track is analyzed using a special algorithm (e.g. ITU 1770) and the integrated loudness is determined.

This value is then stored as metadata for the song. If your song does not meet the desired loudness requirements, the level is either lowered or normalized to the loudness required by the portal, or raised if your song is too quiet. Spotify, for example, then also switches on a limiter that catches all possible level peaks at -1 dBfs, so that no clipping can occur.

The ITU 1770 algorithm is also used by Replay Gain (Spotify uses this program, for example), Winamp and Foobar2000.
UPDATE: July 20, 2021 - ATTENTION: Spotify no longer uses a limiter in the standard setting!

MP3 encoding

- Assume the highest possible bit rate and the filters you need. MP3 mainly has difficulties with the high frequencies. Don't waste bandwidth with 32 kHz instead of 44.1 kHz. Your song will sound better.

- Don't overcompress everything with a compressor/limiter. Leave some of the dynamics of the song so that the encoding algorithm has something to work with.

- Set the encoder to “Best possible quality”. This will allow you to get the best possible results. It takes longer, but it's worth it.

- Remember: MP3 encoding makes the resulting material slightly hotter than the original mix in most cases Limit the output level of the material intended as MP3 to - 1 dB, instead of the usual -0.1 dB or - 0.2 dB. Avoid digital overloads (overs).

- A high-quality MP3 encoder is LAME.

- 160 kbs: The lowest bit rate that is acceptable for files
- 320 kbs: The highest quality, but shows the largest files, but is hardly distinguishable from a CD.

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2025

Well for dance club CD i go LUFS -9 [some people go to extreme -5/6 squash it!] as for RMS i think -6 is loud. i usually go -8/9 with headroom -7 to -1.0... As for online upload they will add a limiter & even turn it down.