What is the best mastering level?
The best mastering level for streaming is an integrated -14 LUFS, as it best fits the loudness normalization settings of the majority of streaming services. Although other measurements like the true peak value and other metrics need to be considered, -14 LUFS is the best mastering level when considering loudness.
Although many digital emulations sound great and offer an easy way to quickly add harmonic generation, analog mastering still offers the harmonic complexity that digital is currently incapable of offering. So, all things considered, if your mix or master is sounding thin, the best option is Analog Mastering.
- Decibel Peak Productions.
- Abbey Road Studios.
- Metropolis Studios.
- LANDR Audio Mastering.
- CloudBounce Instant Audio Mastering.
When mastering, you probably want to leave at least 1 dB of headroom. That means your peaks should be below -1 dBFS. That being said, Spotify recommends a headroom of 2 dB. If you want to optimize for their platform, you may want your peaks to fall below -2 dBFS.
- UAD Massive Passive EQ.
- Fab Filter ProQ 3.
- Softube Curve Bender.
- OekSound Soothe 2.
- Waves API 2500.
- Elysia Alpha Compressor.
- Native Instruments Vari Comp.
- Waves PuigChild 660.
Mastering solves these problems so that your fans hear your songs properly wherever they listen. The bottom line is—if you want your music to be as loud as possible and still sound good, you need mastering.
By separating the stereo mix into separate instrument groups, stem mastering offers more control over your sound than traditional stereo mastering and allows mastering engineers to make more precise changes.
Equalization is one of the primary weapons in the mastering arsenal, where it is used to add warmth, “air,” and tonal balance. EQ can also be used to correct problems like overly loud frequencies that pop out and overwhelm the rest of the mix.
If you're looking at just mastering one track, then I'd definitely recommend Landr, as this allows you to buy a track one off rather than eMastered. However, with the cost it's actually not that much cheaper than a mastering engineer, which you may as well do.
eMastered Features
Compared to LANDR, eMastered gives you a lot more control over your master by offering more settings. Here are the mastering features it has: Compressor intensity: very low, low, normal, high, extreme. Mastering strength: low, normal, high.
How much should mastering cost?
You'll be able to upload your song and an engineer will master the song according to a package you've chosen. This usually costs between $50 and $200, depending on the extensiveness of the mastering package you've chosen.
Good mastering needs the right amount of compression to really get the music files ready for streaming... This is the worst part of the LANDR mastering review. Although the music files will sound good, they won't get the sound you want. I can't see myself using LANDR compression for a song, let alone an entire album.
Quick answer: RMS levels for loud, in your face tracks, should range between -7dBFS and -12 dBFS. For more subdued music, go lower at -16dBFS. The minimum we recommend going is -18dBFS.
LUFS measure should be anywhere between -23dB LUFS to -18dB LUFS. These loudness limits ensure that when your mix is getting mastered, the mastering engineer will have enough headroom(around 6dB) to work with. The 6dB headroom ensure that the tracks do not clip, distort or lose information during the mastering stage.
How loud a mix or master should be, depends on the genre and other factors; however, a mix shouldn't be louder than an integrated -16 LUFS and a master should be between an integrated -16 LUFS to -9 LUFS. Again, this will vary from project to project. A mix shouldn't be louder than -16 LUFS.
The average loudness of master records for the music industry in 2022 is around -8 RMS, about -10 LUFS, with the output ceiling around -0,3 dB. However, the loudness targets can vary for different genres.