At Rexius Records, we aim to help your music sound its best across all platforms. One of the most common misunderstandings in modern mastering revolves around loudness, how “loud” your track is measured before and during playback.
Streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube apply loudness normalization, a process that automatically adjusts playback levels to create a consistent listening experience between songs. This ensures listeners don’t have to turn the volume up and down between tracks.
What Is Loudness Normalization?
Loudness normalization doesn’t change your actual master file, it simply adjusts playback gain during streaming. For example, Spotify normalizes all tracks to about –14 LUFS (integrated), regardless of how loud or soft the original master is.
This means:
- A track mastered at –5 LUFS will be turned down by about 9 dB during playback.
- A track mastered at –14 LUFS will play back unchanged.
- A very quiet track (for example, –20 LUFS) might be turned up slightly, if there’s enough headroom to avoid distortion.
The purpose is to make sure every track fits comfortably within the same listening range.
Official Spotify reference:
https://support.spotify.com/us/artists/article/loudness-normalization/
Why This Matters
Mastering too loud (for example, –5 or –6 LUFS) won’t make your song stand out more on Spotify, it will simply be turned down during playback. In many cases, hyper-compressed masters end up sounding smaller and less dynamic compared to well-balanced ones.
By targeting a level closer to –14 LUFS, your track maintains punch, clarity, and openness, while still sounding competitive next to other releases.
The Rexius Records Loudness Recommendation
To make sure your music sounds its best across every platform and playback environment, we recommend the following technical standards for mastering:
- Recommended Target: Around –14 LUFS (integrated) for streaming platforms
- True Peak Level: Below –1 dBTP (preferably closer to –2 dBTP for safety and clean encoding)
- Versions: We encourage artists to deliver two versions of their master:
- Streaming-optimized master – balanced around –14 LUFS for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and other digital platforms.
- Original master – typically louder and less limited, intended for CD, vinyl, promotional use, or creative archiving.
Creating two versions allows your music to maintain its intended impact and dynamic range across different formats. Streaming platforms automatically normalize volume, while physical and offline formats do not, meaning the optimal loudness target can differ depending on how and where the music is played.
This approach ensures that your release sounds professional, consistent, and competitive no matter the medium.
Our Commitment to Quality
At Rexius Records, we are dedicated to ensuring that your music not only meets industry standards but also retains its artistic integrity. Adhering to these loudness guidelines is a key step in this process, helping your music reach its full potential in the highly competitive streaming landscape.
