Oh my god, you single handedly just saved my new album, holy shit. No wonder why it sounds so wrong on my own speakers, I totally killed the dynamics in the studio. I can't thank you enough
I've been mastering my own stuff for the past year now and diving so deep, and you've just dropped my entire year's education into 11 minutes, plus the true peak thing I had no clue on! This is a damn good video and I'd LUF to see more of these
I learned a lot today. Thank you for making these kinda videos, you make music production feel less crypric and more like magic, both at the same time.
I luf this video! Amazing research and information here. I guess most people must think "why do I care, I only want to make music" but this is super useful information. Thanks for taking the time and putting this together! It may never reach a million views (I hope I'm wrong) but people that do care will relish it.
This is great information!!! Everybody should see this video!!! I'm just a listener, but I've been fighting the loudness wars for a long time now. You mention that you master for streaming services at -13 or -14 LUFS, which is great. But I still buy CDs, and they are still being mastered to 0 LUFS (apparently), still super compressed. That's why I switched back to vinyl, because it's not as compressed. I hope engineers would just master to -14 LUFS across all media (streaming, CDs, vinyl) and give us the best sounding version!!!
Holy shit that's the reason people prefer vinyl!? Thanks to this guys video and your anecdote, I now understand where audio people are coming from. The music sounds more dynamic and it doesn't fuck up everyone's ears! Good stuff! 💎
Excellent video! I've been using Youlean for about a year now and it's super helpful! Bought the pro version of it couple of months back to support them.
Homie, I have my EP all mixed and was like, time really get into mastering and this was just waiting for me when i got here. This is a just a long convoluted way of me trying to say thanks for posting this :)
I can't recommend Youlean Loudness Meter enough. The developer is always adding new features and open to suggestions too. As well as measuring loudness, it also measures dynamic range (PSR), so you can easily see on the graph if any parts are being over-compressed.
Quick tip: go to loudness penalty (just look it up) and their service will tell you how your master will react to the normalization that RUclips, Spotify, etc. apply. It's been pretty helpful to me.
This video is a bit misleading. you could have a mix that is totally overcompressed and still hit your -14 lufs target by adjusting the output level of your compressor/limiter. This is because there are generally 3 types of lufs meters, momentary, short term and integrated (though terminology may bary by manufacturer) some meters will also give you a range which is typically the difference between momentary and short term loudness. Momentary acts like a traditional dbfs peak meter, short term acts like a dbVU meter (rms), integrated is the average of the entire length of the program or the duration of program which youve fed into the meter. Range measurements will give you a sense of how much louder your transient peaks are than your sustained content. And depending on the timescale youve chosen for short term and integrated the difference between quiet and loud sections of the program. Typically, if you were say mixing for a -24 lufs target, you would want to mix the track so that the integrated loudness is -24, the problem with only looking at integrated lufs is you could have an extremely quiet program with a few loud bursts that make the average -24, or a program that is hard limited at -24 and have no dynamic range at all. You have to pay attention to your momentary and short term meters to really know whats going on. If there is little difference between short term and momentary than your audio is extremely compressed, and difference between them and your integrated loudness would only be from differences in loudness between song sections. There isnt a hard and fast rule for this all but a good thing to look for would be that your maximum momentary lifs level is +3, maybe +6 (or more if the music is extremely dynamic) over your short term lufs. Basically momentary lufs is the same as peak with a different calibration, short term is rms, integrated is average of the whole song. Rms is almost the same as VU same as short term lufs. If youre hitting a target of -24rms, 0dbvu, or -24 short term lufs, dipping a couple on quiet sections, maybe going over a little at the climaxes, while seeing numbers on your peak/momentary lufs which are quite a few lufs higher, chances are your mix isnt overcompressed and all of your tracks will have the same consistency of volume. If you want it turbo squashed get momentary, short term and integrated to be pretty much all the same reading.
Love my Clarity meters. Using hardware meters saves my cpu as well cuz I used to leave them open and now I don’t need them taking up screen space. Great vid! 👍
dear god yes! thank you for this. I'm new to music production and still learning. I find some of my tracks to be muddy and sometimes the drums just aren't punchy enough in the mix. So your ableton breakdowns and this video are immensely helpful. thank you!
Can you PLEASEEE, do a mastering video. Watching this video made me realize a LOT of problems I have with my production. If you did an in depth video on the basics of mastering, like what the track needs to be before mastering and then how to master correctly it would be a HUGEEE help
I really appreciate that you make videos like this that don't necessarily target a broad audience for the views/likes! Very awesome to have high quality, informative content on a topic that (until now) I had no idea was making my mix sound like total doggy DOODOO
This is some game-changing information. I've always wondered why my mixes always sound quieter on streaming services and now I'm almost certain that it is because I am mixing too loud (I've been mixing at about -10 to -8 LUFS). Thank you for making this video
Wow thank you so much! This is all incredibly helpful information which I now understand. Bingo! I have a question: One thing I really struggle with is what level to have a sound-bed music underneath narration. Currently I just wing it by ear, but get into bad brain loops where I question my perception over and over again. Is there a cool rule of thumb I could use sensei?
That's really up to you. I struggle with it at well. I try listening on a few different monitoring situations (big speakers, headphones, small speakers) to make sure ive gotten it right. I have a system that lets me switch between them pretty easily so that helps.
@@domainofscience I have very little knowledge and have only just started to understand this stuff, thanks to this vid, I have been performing noise sets, with edits, for years, many having Spoken word, I only mix them down and master using Db, until now. However, I would go with what my pro mates and Mr Red has said above, listen in a couple of sets of cans, and a couple of sets of speakers, and on your car stereo as well. It may be technically perfect but will it sound good on all reproduction devices. I play on different PA setups and they always sound good.
amazing video! more people should learn about volume and you taught everything in a very concise, easy to understand way. Less loudness wars, more LUF!
(total-noob-how-do-I-mix-and-master-my-noises here) Thanks for taking me to school on this. I...have been producing dynamic tracks for my DAW + Headphones, but they are chunky mush (blarf!) when they hit the interwebs. So, thanks.
We it be to much to ask, if you make a video regarding the parameters and usage of most audio plugins in OZONE 8? (as ive seen it pop up a few times in this)
mastering gospel. Yay! sensible talk. One thing to add: mastering mixed tracks is an art form that takes some time to get good at. Some powerful tools, take care.
damn dude, you know your stuff. Awesome video, super interesting info. I remember when commercials would be so loud you would literally have to turn down the TV every commercial break...
Thank god for this! I hate it when music is mixed to sound loud when it's quiet. You try turning it up to immerse yourself and enjoy it, and you get that horrible blatty overcopressed, overly-sustained in your face high-midrange horribleness.
Thanks for the great detailed explanation of all the loudness jargon that exists! Mastering to -13/14 LUFS makes little to no sense because the final stages (clipping and/or limiting) make a huge contribution to the sound, because these radical compressors add the finalizing polish. Besides, next to a commercial mix (pop and rock, around -8-10 LUFS), a master down at -13/14 will sound "unfinished" and unable to compete, as well. Sure, streaming services utilize loudness normalization but this is mainly a tool for equalizing loudness differences on the platforms. It is not, however, a substitute for proper finalization and shall not detract from crafting masters that sound finished properly. If you get it up to -8LUFS and it still sounds too crushed or distorted, you need to address the low-end and low-mids and shape those more accurately. Hope that helps!
Well done, sir. Easy to follow, and really liked the recap that you did at the end. I learned about LUFs today and for that I am grateful. Well edited video too. Thumbs up
Great video! Would love to see a video about your interpretation of how to properly add dynamics to a mix to really make it shine. Also, off topic, maybe make a video about mitigating GAS ( Gear acquisition syndrome)? With you're editing skills, I think that could be a really funny yet informative video! Lots of ideas here if ya need em'
Thanks a lot Jeremy :) I think I might have been overmaximizing my tracks a bit by not measuring LUFS during mixing. Will see if I hear a difference in future projects.
Well done! Now I'm off to go hunt down some LUFS. I hope that I have more luck than that time I went hunting for Snipes. My friends had a great time, but I didn't find anything...
The thing is that majority of record labels master their music louder than -14 LUFS simply because it gives music that specific sound. When I mastered my track for -14 LUFS and uploaded it to Spotify it sounded "unfinished" and a little bit quieter when comparing to commercial releases. I guess it probably depends on a genre but keep that in mind especially when you produce electronic music.
nice! lots of good info!
Lufs love you too, Andrew
have you been hit by an uninsured driver?
two of my favorite youtubers... this is awesome.
hes secretly like fuck off whyd u gotta tell em all
Yoooooooo
I love it when you go all professor on us. Seriously, please do this anytime you want to.
This is reference quality
+1
I think you mean "I LUF it when you go all professor on us"
+1
J Corbett trueee
Oh my god, you single handedly just saved my new album, holy shit. No wonder why it sounds so wrong on my own speakers, I totally killed the dynamics in the studio. I can't thank you enough
You sure it’s not the songs itself? HAAAAAAAAA
I kid I kid
I will sell my soul in order to get a full production / audio engineering course from this man.
Thank you! Very valuable content!
This is possibly the single most useful youtube video I've ever seen. And I previously used youtube to learn how to tile for my bathroom renovation.
I've been mastering my own stuff for the past year now and diving so deep, and you've just dropped my entire year's education into 11 minutes, plus the true peak thing I had no clue on! This is a damn good video and I'd LUF to see more of these
I learned a lot today. Thank you for making these kinda videos, you make music production feel less crypric and more like magic, both at the same time.
As an amateur/hobbyist, I’d never even heard of LUFS. Fantastic knowledge to share, thanks so much!
Excellent 👍now for a tut on LUTS
I luf this video! Amazing research and information here. I guess most people must think "why do I care, I only want to make music" but this is super useful information. Thanks for taking the time and putting this together! It may never reach a million views (I hope I'm wrong) but people that do care will relish it.
I NEED more videos like this, it's soo informative without being boring, or hard to watch at all.
JEREMY I NEED YOUR KNOWLEDGE
This is great information!!! Everybody should see this video!!! I'm just a listener, but I've been fighting the loudness wars for a long time now. You mention that you master for streaming services at -13 or -14 LUFS, which is great. But I still buy CDs, and they are still being mastered to 0 LUFS (apparently), still super compressed. That's why I switched back to vinyl, because it's not as compressed. I hope engineers would just master to -14 LUFS across all media (streaming, CDs, vinyl) and give us the best sounding version!!!
Holy shit that's the reason people prefer vinyl!?
Thanks to this guys video and your anecdote, I now understand where audio people are coming from.
The music sounds more dynamic and it doesn't fuck up everyone's ears!
Good stuff! 💎
Excellent video! I've been using Youlean for about a year now and it's super helpful! Bought the pro version of it couple of months back to support them.
This is, hands down, the best explanation that I have seen for LUFS that I have been able to find. Thank you for the great video.
Homie, I have my EP all mixed and was like, time really get into mastering and this was just waiting for me when i got here.
This is a just a long convoluted way of me trying to say thanks for posting this :)
More! Of! This! PLEASE!! This is really wonderful content and I learned a lot!
Been using youlean for a year now, my tracks have never sounded better. Fuck the loudness wars, lufs are the future.
I can't recommend Youlean Loudness Meter enough. The developer is always adding new features and open to suggestions too. As well as measuring loudness, it also measures dynamic range (PSR), so you can easily see on the graph if any parts are being over-compressed.
Quick tip: go to loudness penalty (just look it up) and their service will tell you how your master will react to the normalization that RUclips, Spotify, etc. apply. It's been pretty helpful to me.
This is exactly what I needed at exactly the right time.
i never got to understand lufs but now i do thank you very much sir
Super grateful for this video man! Really clarified a lot of the mysteries about LUFS and loudness metering. Thanks!
You`ve explained this better than I learned it in college
thank you, now all my previous tracks sound like garbage. You're a savior.
This video is a bit misleading.
you could have a mix that is totally overcompressed and still hit your -14 lufs target by adjusting the output level of your compressor/limiter.
This is because there are generally 3 types of lufs meters, momentary, short term and integrated (though terminology may bary by manufacturer) some meters will also give you a range which is typically the difference between momentary and short term loudness.
Momentary acts like a traditional dbfs peak meter, short term acts like a dbVU meter (rms), integrated is the average of the entire length of the program or the duration of program which youve fed into the meter. Range measurements will give you a sense of how much louder your transient peaks are than your sustained content. And depending on the timescale youve chosen for short term and integrated the difference between quiet and loud sections of the program.
Typically, if you were say mixing for a -24 lufs target, you would want to mix the track so that the integrated loudness is -24, the problem with only looking at integrated lufs is you could have an extremely quiet program with a few loud bursts that make the average -24, or a program that is hard limited at -24 and have no dynamic range at all. You have to pay attention to your momentary and short term meters to really know whats going on.
If there is little difference between short term and momentary than your audio is extremely compressed, and difference between them and your integrated loudness would only be from differences in loudness between song sections.
There isnt a hard and fast rule for this all but a good thing to look for would be that your maximum momentary lifs level is +3, maybe +6 (or more if the music is extremely dynamic) over your short term lufs.
Basically momentary lufs is the same as peak with a different calibration, short term is rms, integrated is average of the whole song. Rms is almost the same as VU same as short term lufs.
If youre hitting a target of -24rms, 0dbvu, or -24 short term lufs, dipping a couple on quiet sections, maybe going over a little at the climaxes, while seeing numbers on your peak/momentary lufs which are quite a few lufs higher, chances are your mix isnt overcompressed and all of your tracks will have the same consistency of volume.
If you want it turbo squashed get momentary, short term and integrated to be pretty much all the same reading.
Good info
Wow these two hands are really articulate and knowledgeable
Love my Clarity meters. Using hardware meters saves my cpu as well cuz I used to leave them open and now I don’t need them taking up screen space. Great vid! 👍
Come on, you didn’t wish us a LUFly day? It was right there!
For electronic genres I shoot for -6 to -5 LUFs. For a very subbass heavy song I aim for -7. Youlean loudness meter is a great tool for this.
great content omg thank you for that
Exactly what I wanted to find out about, you gave all the answers in ten minutes. Thank you very much
dear god yes! thank you for this. I'm new to music production and still learning. I find some of my tracks to be muddy and sometimes the drums just aren't punchy enough in the mix. So your ableton breakdowns and this video are immensely helpful. thank you!
Great video, very thorough explanation and well said!
Can you PLEASEEE, do a mastering video. Watching this video made me realize a LOT of problems I have with my production. If you did an in depth video on the basics of mastering, like what the track needs to be before mastering and then how to master correctly it would be a HUGEEE help
This is so absolutely wonderful. Thanks tons for sharing!
DAD TALKS. I needed this, thank you ♥
Great Video here... Would love to see more... more on this subject.
that was such an awesome video! and so well made too great work
I really appreciate that you make videos like this that don't necessarily target a broad audience for the views/likes! Very awesome to have high quality, informative content on a topic that (until now) I had no idea was making my mix sound like total doggy DOODOO
Look... I'm not done compressing until the mix is one long fettuccine noodle.
/s
topkek
this is the best video on Lufs I have seen. thank you
Awesome and useful video. Thanks Jeremy ! Subscribed 👍🏻
Very informative and easy to follow and understand. Thanks Jeremy, I really appreciate your content. Keep it up!
This is some game-changing information. I've always wondered why my mixes always sound quieter on streaming services and now I'm almost certain that it is because I am mixing too loud (I've been mixing at about -10 to -8 LUFS). Thank you for making this video
You'll find different genres are mixed to different lufs so treat this as a guide at best!
Really informative, thank you!!
Wow thank you so much! This is all incredibly helpful information which I now understand. Bingo! I have a question: One thing I really struggle with is what level to have a sound-bed music underneath narration. Currently I just wing it by ear, but get into bad brain loops where I question my perception over and over again. Is there a cool rule of thumb I could use sensei?
That's really up to you. I struggle with it at well. I try listening on a few different monitoring situations (big speakers, headphones, small speakers) to make sure ive gotten it right. I have a system that lets me switch between them pretty easily so that helps.
@@RedMeansRecording Cool, thanks! I'll try that!
@@domainofscience I have very little knowledge and have only just started to understand this stuff, thanks to this vid, I have been performing noise sets, with edits, for years, many having Spoken word, I only mix them down and master using Db, until now. However, I would go with what my pro mates and Mr Red has said above, listen in a couple of sets of cans, and a couple of sets of speakers, and on your car stereo as well. It may be technically perfect but will it sound good on all reproduction devices. I play on different PA setups and they always sound good.
Thanks. I've been hearing about LUFS for a while, but never heard it explained so well. Very informative!
Hope it's cool that you are basically becoming my music teacher.
amazing video! more people should learn about volume and you taught everything in a very concise, easy to understand way. Less loudness wars, more LUF!
Hey thanks for dropping this knowledge on a noob and thank you for the free meter link!
Wow, this was wildly helpful for me. It’s so hard to find mastering information that’s clearly put together like this!
Informative? It was exactly what I needed. Exactly what I needed. Many Thanks 🙏
Thank you that was very helpful
This video was so informative. Concise aswell. Loved it. Cheers.
Crazy informative indeed, cheers aye!
(total-noob-how-do-I-mix-and-master-my-noises here) Thanks for taking me to school on this. I...have been producing dynamic tracks for my DAW + Headphones, but they are chunky mush (blarf!) when they hit the interwebs. So, thanks.
We it be to much to ask, if you make a video regarding the parameters and usage of most audio plugins in OZONE 8? (as ive seen it pop up a few times in this)
mastering gospel. Yay! sensible talk. One thing to add: mastering mixed tracks is an art form that takes some time to get good at. Some powerful tools, take care.
This is an amazing video! Had a lesson on metering in uni and it was nowhere near as clear and concise as yours. Thanks Jeremy!
Awesome. Thanks for the post!
Mr. Basic ehyyyy buddy buddy ❤️
i literally needed this today. God bless you
Excellent breakdown of an easily misunderstood concept. Thanks so much.
Thank you for spreading LUFS and awareness!
Great explanation of the LUFS situation
damn dude, you know your stuff. Awesome video, super interesting info. I remember when commercials would be so loud you would literally have to turn down the TV every commercial break...
Great video. A possibly confusing subject very simply put! Great work as always.
I like your style G. Thanks for the crispy lil vid. 👍
Lovely tute and well presented- thanks so much!
I've actually been learning these terms and ways of measuring sound at work, fun that you bring it up around the same time.
This helped solidify a few things about LUFS and I'm going to see if I can learn how to level things properly
excited to try this out in my next song.
Thank god for this! I hate it when music is mixed to sound loud when it's quiet. You try turning it up to immerse yourself and enjoy it, and you get that horrible blatty overcopressed, overly-sustained in your face high-midrange horribleness.
Thanks for the information on loudness. Luf the video :D
This is great, and congrats on 300k.
Holy crap! Your shilling alert almost gave me a fit!
Sorry :(
This is so so so helpful. Thank you very much, Jeremy.
Excellent video. This really demystified a lot for me. I appreciate it so much.
Thanks for the great detailed explanation of all the loudness jargon that exists!
Mastering to -13/14 LUFS makes little to no sense because the final stages (clipping and/or limiting) make a huge contribution to the sound, because these radical compressors add the finalizing polish. Besides, next to a commercial mix (pop and rock, around -8-10 LUFS), a master down at -13/14 will sound "unfinished" and unable to compete, as well.
Sure, streaming services utilize loudness normalization but this is mainly a tool for equalizing loudness differences on the platforms. It is not, however, a substitute for proper finalization and shall not detract from crafting masters that sound finished properly.
If you get it up to -8LUFS and it still sounds too crushed or distorted, you need to address the low-end and low-mids and shape those more accurately.
Hope that helps!
Sure
Thanks very much for this, I've been trying to find more info on LUFS and you nailed it. Cheers!
Well done, sir. Easy to follow, and really liked the recap that you did at the end. I learned about LUFs today and for that I am grateful. Well edited video too. Thumbs up
Great video! Would love to see a video about your interpretation of how to properly add dynamics to a mix to really make it shine. Also, off topic, maybe make a video about mitigating GAS ( Gear acquisition syndrome)? With you're editing skills, I think that could be a really funny yet informative video! Lots of ideas here if ya need em'
wow this cleared up so much stuff that i've been confused about recently
"I hope you bring LUFS into your life."
Are you saying we should LIVE, LAUGH, LUFS???
That OwO at 6:56 came out of nowhere 😂 Great explanations, I understand it better know !
Thanks a lot Jeremy :) I think I might have been overmaximizing my tracks a bit by not measuring LUFS during mixing. Will see if I hear a difference in future projects.
Well done!
Now I'm off to go hunt down some LUFS. I hope that I have more luck than that time I went hunting for Snipes. My friends had a great time, but I didn't find anything...
This is super insightful. Thank you!
I like that ur put ur crystal in ur video man
This is wonderfully useful and informative. Thank you!
The thing is that majority of record labels master their music louder than -14 LUFS simply because it gives music that specific sound. When I mastered my track for -14 LUFS and uploaded it to Spotify it sounded "unfinished" and a little bit quieter when comparing to commercial releases. I guess it probably depends on a genre but keep that in mind especially when you produce electronic music.
What target loudness should I chose when recording vinyl ?
Thanks dude!, super practical and useful
This is an important video. Thank you Jeremy!
Great video! Maybe a lesson on FM synthesis next?
Lufs is all around... Thank you Jeremy.
LOVE LUFS. Thank you for this!
Lol @ 8:07 😂
Man, love (well, luuuuf) your videos and always learn a lot. Keep up the good work!
So useful. I had to remind me to do this on my next project
yo this is gold right here
super informative
Thanks a lot mate (:
Exactly the moment I thought "o, please, could you recap?" you do a re-cap
5 stars!