Top 7 Mastering Mistakes for Streaming Music Platforms

[@hurleymediatv]

I don't know if young people (I'm 65) realize how truly blessed they are to be in this time of technology. Everything from the reasonable cost of computer recording, plugins at crazy low prices, and to me the biggest thing, KZbin where we can watch videos like yours, and learn from start to finish, how to mix, master (lufs) and share our music. My first experience with recording was in 1985, with my Yamaha 4 track. Man, how things have changed since then... I wish I were 30 years younger, so I could have more years to experience all of this wonderful technology. I want to thank you again for another great video, Sean. Cheers!

[@xrabbz2010]

I do, I was talking with a friend the other day and he said he would have loved to be alive during the 80s and 90s making music, I was like "no chance, recording to a 4 track tape then re recording the groups again and again sounds like hell to me" Even if I know it sounds better 😅

[@bellsbeat3735]

You are the only person in the audio engineering field that I have ever seen take the time to explain how things operate. You being in your prime is indeed a blessing. We are appreciative of your generous sharing of your vast knowledge.

[@Enfluentz]

I just wanna say that i appreciate you sharing with us over the years! Ive learned so much and have became really in tune with Mixing and also beat making! been my heart since i was young! I can relate so heavy with the way you explain things and i greatly thank you bro! i know the work that you have put in and its much respect bro!!! Blessings to you and the fam!!

[@SeanDivine]

So glad to hear it’s been helpful and appreciate the feedback, means a lot 🙏🙌

[@ilya6355]

Sean you're doing great work of educating people. Spotify and apple should explain it like that about delivery levels. First I didn't know about LUFS. Then I was confused about -14 level and now I know.

[@vinylmastersgr1036]

Thank you so much, your videos are perfect. I didn't know that Spotify has the selection to normalize instead of having the LUFS of original master. However I think in commercial music -9 is ok , but better would be -10 or -11. Songs or Billie Eilish are -7 to -6.5 and sound so awfully distorted, same some songs of Taylor Swift are -8. In Greece, laiko songs from one specific company are -8 or -9 and sound so distorted like losing dynamic range. The other problem is that lowend nowadays is so powerful and many commercial songs lack of high end. Many times I hear boominess in some songs and drums hit so hard and awfully. I cancelled subscription on Spotify because they are listened extremely loud to me. I listen far better in KZbin music but I don't know if the algorithm of yt normalizes or make these more quite, however they sound to me better.

[@vinylmastersgr1036]

Also to say that Greek companies, the years from 2010 and now, when remaster oldies for compilations, they use eq to the song and cut many highs or add more bass, and increase loudness extreme for example when song in a 90s compact disc was -14LUFS, the "remastered" is -9LUFS, waveform is so flat and big, many peaks are cut. And as source they don't use the original master tape but just a lossless file from a compact disc.

[@OffNight914]

one of your best videos hands down. there aren’t a lot of videos that really dive into how streaming platforms work for artists and you answered questions i’ve had for years

[@SeanDivine]

Glad it helped Greg 🙌

[@MentalS6k]

I totally agree. Simply one of the best, if not the best breakdown of do’s & don’t’s in todays market. Thank you Sean. Definitely one of my top 3 gurus in music making. 🙏🏾😌

[@CrisGarcia6]

That is a good advice and I am taking that note on my recent project for my next song so that I do not forget. It was so confusing regarding with maintaining in a perfect LUFS. I made mistakes on my couple of songs, including one song that I checked Loudness Normalization on Distrokid, but it is about learning and growing little by little. I have a question regarding with Dolby Atmos Mixing. If I decided to Upload a Dolby Atmos/Spatial Audio, The Loudness for Dolby Atmos is to be maintained at no louder than -18 LUFS. Does it have to be perfectly at -18 LUFS? DO we have to do the same thing such as being around -12 to -8 LUFS for Dolby Atmos version of the music?

[@maxtothmusic]

Question: I’ve been listening on apple and Spotify with the normalization on so I can get an idea, and I still notice some songs are way louder than others. Why is that

[@ernieg]

Holly fuck!! No wonder!!! I was doing it wrong all this time

[@lightningproductionsllc]

Bro Thank you my question ive been searching for the answer to mistake number 1 for a while my masters are consistently hitting -8, -9 lufs and i get worried about that now i can finally deliver my masters with confidence and ease your the man sean got yourself a new fan

[@vycashh]

Es mucho mejor que tus mezclas lleguen a -8 lufs! Excelente bro

[@lightningproductionsllc]

@@vycashh gracias

[@londonsea5077]

I really appreciate your videos Sean, my sound has improved 10 fold since watching them.

[@DjRuthful]

Thanks for this very helpful video Sean. I definitely fell for the loudness war once, but also found out what really matters. Great job 👊

[@969prettyboy3]

Bruh u look like Mr. Beast from music production

[@dsohn1288]

Sorry, English is not my native language. I've been on the wrong path for so long now. How much I messed up my songs because of the -1 rule. How much better songs sound at -0.1 to -0.4 I find already noticeable. Thanks for your advice Bro.

[@DC-rj3iq]

You are goated bro 🙏🏽 I’ve been watching your videos for years and you consistently help my engineering through these vids!

[@jwally94]

Thanks for clearing up the loudness debate. Do you still put your final limiter ceiling at -1.0 like they recommend, or something closer to 0?

[@raminbeatz]

Good question. Spotify recommends putting it to -2db TP if the master is louder than -14db LUFS.

[@SeanDivine]

They recommend being on the safe side, leaving 1 to 2 dB True Peak. That's to prevent any possible distortion in the lossy encode. In my experience, as long as it's below 0dB TP any difference is negligible.

[@jwally94]

@@SeanDivine So are you a -0.1 guy?

[@SeanDivine]

@@jwally94 in most cases :) 🤫

[@jwally94]

@@SeanDivine Thanks for the response! Been watching for years, keep up the good work.

[@TheMrSamrock]

God father please upload more videos

[@BryanBarnesMusic]

Hey Sean, hope you’re doing well! Just wanna say thanks for making this video! It answered a lot of questions I had on the topic and gave some extra info I would never thought of (meta data). Thanks man!

[@SeanDivine]

Glad to hear it Bryan! 🙌

[@ilyarusskikh1459]

Thank you! Great info! I’m on a right track. The only thing I missed, that I deliver masters 44,1khz 16bit. I reconsider it to 24bit now!

[@DHawkBeats]

Wow seriosuly thank you! I'm about to distribute my first self-mixed and mastered song and I almost made it way quieter out of fear of Spotify distorting or compressing it for being higher than -14 LUFS, but now I feel more comfortable

[@truesearch69]

I hope you have taken care of the true peaks. when converting between AAC 126kbps and OGG in Spotify, chances are that if you haven't taken care of this... your song is clipped over 1,000 times.

[@Cedrou21]

Any reviews of repost exchange ?

[@Harshit4Music]

Thanks

[@Terribleguitarist89]

Doubling back on the metadata, one of my favorite things to do on Tidal is listen to songs based off of Producers, Mixing Engineers, Studio Musicians, etc... because it allows me to listen for similar traits or ideas to "borrow" that I can spot across their work... so there's at least one weirdo out there who cares about the metadata as a study tool 😂

[@PiterPolCello]

What about 44.1 or 48Hz? or higher? Can I upload 48 on Spotify?

[@akthebeatz]

best mastering tips thanks

[@jambassguitar]

this might be a weird detail, but how did you route your spotify audio into your DAW to be able to have WLM get the loudness reading?

[@TheKwil]

I was wondering the exact same thing wtf

[@official_aziel]

Thank you for the referral to repost exchange

[@entoine87]

yes, you can master at -9 if the music sounds better with this low of dynamics, but let's be realist, most of the masters are loud because of the loudness war and a lot of them mastered at extreme level sound like shit or could have ben much pleasing to listen to (to the same volume, but with greater dynamics)

[@DorisSon]

Sean love your vids, video markers next time please?

[@COSMLOOP]

This is a gem. Real game. Than you Sean! The leg work is appreciated 🙏🏽🙌🏽👏🏽🔥🐐💨💨💨

[@kevinbodniza8559]

Are you available for mixing mastering? What’s your email?

[@SeanDivine]

seandivine.com/mixing-and-mastering

[@kevinbodniza8559]

@@SeanDivine Sent

[@cz1562]

So if it’s normalized every song will be the same loudness(consistent loudness) ?, if it isn’t normalized 14lufs will be always 14lufs Then there’s no point to worry abt the streaming lufs? Idk I’m so confused 🤭

[@theoasis444]

bro how are you using the loudness meter to read audio from Spotify?

[@hosawkins]

This is about the most informative video I've seen. Thanks a lot for this video Sean. Being having a lot of issues with my mastering these days but this video just gave me a leap on

[@nenjidesu]

ur music is underrated asf 😭🔥

[@SeanDivine]

Glad you like it 😊

[@victornico]

You’ve inspired me to love and appreciate the mixing process!

[@Cedrou21]

Yeah when you start getting some results it becomes pretty fun

[@leraj1639]

I've put out an e.p and my songs sounded very low then how it originally sounded .

[@venomfour20]

I -9 LUFs a good goal for metal music masters as well?

[@equalfoundation895]

Gems 💎 on Gems 💎 on Gems 💎 Thanks for your expertise Sean 🔥🔥🔥

[@agraciotti]

When I publish my song on spotify and youtube, the volume gets drastically reduced (it sounds much quieter than others), i'm mastering at a reasonable volume (matching with other finished songs) and I even leave my true peak at -1, but it still sounds very quiet when published. What am I doing wrong?

[@SeanDivine]

This video should help - kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqeslZmhhruDqNk. Perceived loudness and loudness measured by metering are not the same.

[@apshinn]

Amazing tips as always SD! The tip about leaving space at the beginning of the track is a good one. And man if I had a dollar for everytime I opened an old session and a VST messed up I'd have at least $100 haha. Unrelated: "Tired Eyes" is an absolute BANGER!!!

[@SeanDivine]

Truth. I try hard to keep all plugins up to date and it's quite a task these days 😅 and thank you bro, appreciate the love!

[@ksmit]

Awesome advice Sean, thank you!!!

[@EKABeats99]

Sean, this feels illegal to even be free. KZbin doesn't deserve you

[@ineedkandy]

You're a legend bro !!!!!! Your videos are always what a producer/engineer/artist needs..... 10/10 quality content 🙏

[@bassemammar2]

my song get distorted on instagram reels and i don't know what is the problem

[@montwins5162]

thanks for information about 44.1 k with 24 bit to destrokid

[@salempoormusic]

Thanks for the video. LUFS drive me crazy. I always hear different things from different people. My first album was mastered in a studio at -14 LUFS and it's more quiet than everything else on the streaming platforms and it drives me nuts. Now that I'm doing my own mastering, I've been trying to kick it up but I'm paranoid about doing too much and losing dynamics when it gets nerfed on the platforms. I've uploaded singles that have been mastered in different ways. I'm getting ready to take those down as I'm about to finish up a new album, all mastered on the same timeline. Hearing you explain that -9 to -11, or so, will be just fine makes me feel a lot more confident. Appreciate the video.

[@jameschandler_]

That Fab Filter Pro L2 sounds so good

[@B-Nice]

What takes place when Spotify increases the high frequencies?? I’ve had 2-3khz boosted by Spotify. It’s to the point that it’s very noticeable to anyone who listens to the file that was delivered vs what Spotify posts

[@SeanDivine]

Spotify does nothing to change the frequency curve. They’re played as delivered (with loudness normalization) unless the listener has the internal EQ activated.

[@Amukeila]

I’ve just started watching your videos, they’re so helpful and you’ve answered a lot of questions I had about music production, thank you so much for such high quality techniques and information

[@SeanDivine]

Appreciate the feedback and glad to help!

[@alfonsocarter2060]

Yo My man that song is fire!! I'm about to put that in my playlist, are you speaking to God? DOPE!!

[@SeanDivine]

🙏

[@ShabaazFoster]

Yeah but most people aren't going to 'normalize'

[@xrabbz2010]

This video is exaclty what i needed. Thank you

[@jwalters8498]

Great video learned a lot. How did you get your meter to read Spotify?

[@elielisco]

Thanks so much for this! I'm facing a problem where I feel like my Master is plenty loud, but its sitting at -20 LUFS... I'm scared to add any more gain, cause I feel like the song quality begins to fall apart... Do you reckon -20 is far too low for LUFS, especially for Spotify and their normalization? Thanks again for the help - you gained a new subscriber tonight lol

[@elielisco]

On that same note - what is your take on DistroKid's loudness normalization service? Is it worth it? thanks again mate

[@FreeTheJambon]

Any clipping involved ? Are you monitoring through a PA with its volume set high ?

[@EncounterCaneCorso]

Thanks. Lots to consider before uploading.

[@SeanDivine]

Indeed :) Have fun!

[@QualquerNomeBesta]

Nice video Sean. One question. How do you set the Waves WLM to analize the spotify?

[@stillgotyourmom]

its in the presets!

[@bigpartyorchestra]

How did you get it to analyze from spotify? did you use loop back audio?

[@BubbyGalloway]

Excited for this one!

[@borisvillar]

Thank you Sean I really appreciate this video so many mastering engineers try to keep you in the dark about these concepts.

[@SeanDivine]

My pleasure 🙏

[@_mark17]

You say, Spotify will just turn the volume down if you're above - 14, which is true. But here's the problem. If your peaks are at - 1dB and your LUFS is at -9. Spotify is going to turn your track down by -5dB. So now, your peaks are at - 6 and your LUFS is at - 14. For maximum impact, you would have been better off mastering your track to - 14 LUFS yourself and keeping your peaks at -1 or -2dB. On top of that, the average Spotify user isn't tweaking their settings to turn normalization off. When it's on, your song will hit harder and have more dynamic range than any top track that wasn't mastered to - 14.

[@unbeater]

-9/-10 LUFS 🔥🎹

[@NETAAAMUSIC]

Thank you!

[@conrow1157]

What about the true peak? Do I need to stay under -1?

[@SeanDivine]

-1 TP is best practice when delivering to streaming to take into account the lossy conversion. If the master is done properly, will it make a noticeable difference? That’s more subjective :)

[@veel.muziek]

Hi Sean, thanks for the explanation in your videos, but I do have a question for you; what about the Loudness penalty analyzer that I often see? This one teaches me to master again at -14 lufs? At the moment I am remastering old music from CD to 'finally' put it on the music platforms. I master everything to -14 lufs, master? master? Remaster. The music is more than 30 years old and is on CD, so it has to be remastered. I also use the WLM to get it to the right lufs. SO, keep there own lufs or pump it up to -14 (or more) lufs? Most of the songs are under -14.

[@patioticmusic2168]

Thanks for the tips! always great content! Question, how do you analyse Spotify music into logic? Thanks!!!

[@SeanDivine]

It's specific to how I have signals routed in my setup (my interface and the Clarity M). That being said, this could be a possibility for every setup in the near future ;)

[@bisondark30]

Hi Sean, what about peak levels? Spotify says to peak at -2 dB if your LUFS is greater than -14. It looks like you are peaking at 0.0 dB. Did you lower the peak level before sending to distribution or did you send with the peak at 0.0 dB? Thanks for the great information!

[@SeanDivine]

I generally deliver between -1 to -.1 True Peak. The Spotify recommendation is to be on the safe side, taking into account any distortion introduced in the lossy conversion. In my experience, the differences there are negligible, as long as you're utilizing a True Peak ceiling.

[@bisondark30]

@@SeanDivine Thank you!

[@ZAYAZOfficial]

Excellent and informative Vid Sean. Thanks for all the great content 🤘

[@youngjohonthebeat]

Waiting😘

[@ajlsoundwave]

Hi Sean, maybe I missed it in your video but can you comment on the "true peak" requirement that these platforms suggest? i.e. they suggest at least -1.0 dbtp. What have you found to be a good compromise between CD dbtp and streaming dbtp?

[@SeanDivine]

-1 TP is the safe bet. There is some distortion introduced in the lossy encode (i.e. MP3, streaming formats). As long as you're not being reckless with the stereo bus and it's below 0 TP, the difference is negligible in my experience.

[@DonMadDonald]

@@SeanDivine so if someone delivers a master at -0.2/-0.5 TP it should be ok for the streaming platform and KZbin right?

[@bigkidband5731]

Great Info! Sub'd

[@MrHoogoorock]

Great tutorial thanks so much for clarifying the LUFS situation. So good to see how Spotify actually applies the -14?etc and the relevance and at times irrelevance of it.

[@dannyday125]

Great video, Sean. This is the first time I've seen anyone cover these topics so extensively. Thank you.

[@cesar_m.p.]

How could you measure the loudness directly from spotify? Is that WLM plugin a standalone thing that can measure the audio coming from an aplication?

[@morenazo6412]

It would be so much better if we could upload our finished songs without adding our own limiter and let Spotify's algorithm turn it up to the "appropriate level" if it's not up to the normalized standard. It makes perfect sense, since they have no problem turning it down if they deem it "too loud" It would remove all the guesswork for the inexperienced.

[@MrAcapela]

super excelent infoss

[@victornico]

Thank you! This video is much needed! Well explained! Didn’t you deliver at -14 LUFS before Sean? I thought I remembered you saying that in older videos? May remember wrong

[@SeanDivine]

I know I've covered how to target specific integrated LUFS levels (be it -14 or otherwise). That's intended for reference though, not for delivery across different platforms.

[@victornico]

@@SeanDivine I see thanks for clearing that up for me!

[@ndubwou]

How did you open WLM to capture the Spotify audio? OR did you just route the desktop audio thru your DAW?

[@BubbyGalloway]

When you said “liner notes”.. 😮‍💨 I was also really interested in the liner notes on the albums I’d buy. I love being able to attach your name to my music today. You’ve made me a much more confident artist in the past year! Thank you for that!

[@geniustracks9213]

I found your music through a tutorial video of Sean's. Really enjoy your work, makes me jelly that I havent gotten to music vids yet. Whole new ballgame I've gotta learn. lol

[@BubbyGalloway]

@@geniustracks9213 you will! Don’t feel like you have to be “up to par” either. That slowed my journey down significantly! Don’t wait until you can get “the right camera”. Use the resources you have! Ultimately it’s all about the music! Good luck on your journey! I’m about to visit your channel now.

[@geniustracks9213]

@@BubbyGalloway Ohh shit, thanks man. I dont advertise or nothing yet, still working out what my style will end up molding into as I create more. My stuffs all over the place/trying things out

[@kiranovatheofficial]

Great video! How did you get the loudness mettering plugin workin on spotify app?

[@pattysmusic524]

That first tip is something that NOBODY is saying. Super helpful, I've been so confused as to why songs on Spotify seem quite a bit louder the standards are all the same and now I know. Of course quality mixing has to do with it too but that is something I am working on.

[@SteveWatsonMusic]

Brilliant, enlightening, and inspiring! Thanks for your service to the online community with these excellent videos. You mentioned setting up VCA channels... do you have a video somewhere that covers that process?

[@SeanDivine]

Glad to help, Steve! Sure do :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/qoTYqKRuqtCXjMk

[@scottykomer9992]

Good video. This subject has been a mess lately.(first point)

[@blaqyung8393]

Let's Go Sean Let's go 🇿🇦

[@DreErdna]

LETS GO

[@mrlehwego]

Love it my guy! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with the rest of us. 🙏🕊

[@SeanDivine]

Glad to help!

[@alfredgrupstra]

At last a very clear explanation about the LUFS and what (not) to do about it.

[@iamalievski]

You just got yourself a new subscriber! Very good info in there thx a lot.

[@pablonaranjo3909]

Thanks for your videos Sean, amazingly helpful🙏

[@Dartlin]

Great video, thanks for the reminder on bouncing everything down on the last tip I used to do it and then got lazy and stopped in this was a great reminder to start doing that again in case my computer crashed etc

[@marymoon96]

Very helpful and informative, thank you!

[@dandanthesoundman7607]

Fab vid, thanks

[@Giovy-Perez]

AMEN!

[@fnbv8]

Tnks👏👏👏

[@DeltaWhiskeyBravo13579]

Excellent tutorial on the loudness murky void of not much consistent info. Thanks for the passing on the knowledge.

[@stevieross4415]

Hi Sean , thanks for the info. Does Sound Cloud have the option to turn off normalise ? Thanks

[@MoneyRouteRay]

Can u do a good rap template for studio one using slate and waves ?

[@timdovecool7202]

Thanks bro!.....

[@X7XL51]

thank you for that

[@DividedWarrior]

Sean! Mr. Divine! Where's the merch, man? We need some dope merch. Love & respect, John