The Loudness Penalty by Streaming Services

Streaming services like Spotify and others normalize the volume of all the material on their platform. This is so you’re not constantly turning the level up or down from song to song. However, tracks you’ve mixed may not play back…

How to Use Youlean Loudness Meter (Tutorial)

One of the ways mixers and mastering engineers optimize their levels is by referencing detailed loudness meters. Whether you’re mixing for film, TV, or digital streaming services, there are different standards you can aim for to make sure your mix…

5 Best FREE VU Meter Plugins in 2024

Before people started working in-the-box, VU meters measured the average level of a signal. You’d see them on consoles and outboard gear for measuring input or output level as well as gain reduction on compressors. The default digital meter is…

How the ‘Loudness Wars’ Made Music Sound Worse (And What We Should Learn from It)

Science tells us that people prefer their music loud. As sounds get louder and louder, their overall frequency curve begin to flatten out, so you can more easily hear the whole “picture.” The “louder is better” philosophy usually begins with artists…

What Is RMS and How Does It Differ from True Peak?

What is RMS? What’s true peak? What the heck is LUFS? All of these are totally reasonable questions in the weird world of audio! There are lots of different ways we measure loudness, and it can be tough to pin…