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.

[@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. 🙏🏾😌

[@tmleads]

@@SeanDivine broo..should the true peak be at -1db or -0.1db (-0.10) or 0db?

[@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.

[@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

[@vycsh]

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

[@lightningproductionsllc]

@@vycsh gracias

[@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 👊

[@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 🙏🙌

[@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!

[@BubbyGalloway]

Excited for this one!

[@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

[@seebas_estee]

great advice! I've been looking for a video like this one!

[@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?

[@NETAAAMUSIC]

Thank you!

[@londonsea5077]

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

[@DC-rj3iq]

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

[@iamalievski]

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

[@drahmahofficial]

Thanks bro, I’ve been pondering about this for a while.

[@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

[@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.

[@kiranovatheofficial]

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

[@osirusmusic]

I always learn something new every video. Thanks Sean!

[@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

[@victornico]

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

[@Cedrou21]

Yeah when you start getting some results it becomes pretty fun

[@jmj5music]

Beautiful Bro!!! Thanks.. God Bless!!!

[@ZAYAZOfficial]

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

[@DeltaWhiskeyBravo13579]

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

[@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.

[@official_aziel]

Thank you for the referral to repost exchange

[@dannyday125]

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

[@equalfoundation895]

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

[@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 🙏

[@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! 🙌

[@xrabbz2010]

This video is exaclty what i needed. Thank you

[@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 ;)

[@jacquelamontharenberg]

Very well explained. Thank you.

[@HarryDeeProductions]

bro how do you not have millions of subs yet..u been here since day one with the best content..KZbin needs to reconize

[@ksmit]

Awesome advice Sean, thank you!!!

[@alfredgrupstra]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@FLAVMEDIA]

Great Post!!!

[@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.

[@COSMLOOP]

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

[@jwalters8498]

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

[@nenjidesu]

ur music is underrated asf 😭🔥

[@SeanDivine]

Glad you like it 😊

[@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.

[@musicboy2003]

A very informative, down to earth presentation that answers a lot of questions! Thank you!

[@ineedkandy]

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

[@mrlehwego]

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

[@SeanDivine]

Glad to help!

[@MuzikConcerts]

I’ve tried to understand mastering for like 10 years and this video it all finally clicked. Lots of things I heard contradicting information. Plus I also use Distrokid and Logic (subscribed!) thanks man!

[@jameschandler_]

That Fab Filter Pro L2 sounds so good

[@MIHAO]

Great content Sean

[@pablonaranjo3909]

Thanks for your videos Sean, amazingly helpful🙏

[@danielpicard3994]

I always appreciate your videos. This one is particularly useful. Thanks!

[@OfficialStevenCravis]

Sean, you’re the first person to explain this so well, regarding LUFS! The only remaining exception, kind of recently, is a requirement for specifically Apple Music, specifically Spatial (or Atmos) ADM BWF surround wav file, which has to be at 24/48 -1 true peak and -18 LUFS.

[@platterjockey]

Thank you for mentioning the top of the files. A lot of the pros are cutting things right up to the first note and I hate that. I always do what you do. I like a natural feel from when the play button is hit to the actual start of the music. I also leave at least two seconds after the music ends.

[@SeanDivine]

Good call 🙌

[@lolilollolilol7773]

As usual, top notch tips, Sean ! So professional.

[@brutusmoon2867]

This is great Sean. Thank You!

[@dededindra]

Always helpful! thanks Sean!

[@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

[@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

[@mcdub8491]

Excellent video. Clearest explanation of loudness I've found, and that's saying something! Everything here is such critical information that everyone should know, but is often overlooked or not discussed at all. You're obviously an experienced pro. Take heed, people! Also, one cool thing I've discovered is the Codec feature in Ozone. You can instantly hear very clearly how your music is going to be affected by lossy encoding.

[@SeanDivine]

Glad it was helpful! Codec feature is crucial indeed 👍

[@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!

[@therealrodmosby]

Very nice work, bro!

[@Cedrou21]

Any reviews of repost exchange ?

[@SillyFrogg]

Finally a video that is very helpful and interesting. Thank you. For once, I have learnt many important things.

[@giveyourselfcredit6317]

Thank you this really helped!

[@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!

[@cwilliammusic]

I love your sound. The color. The way your music sounds is to point (cooks joke). What audio interface do you use?

[@SeanDivine]

Thanks C. I use the RME UFX.

[@cwilliammusic]

@@SeanDivine is that one way better than RME Fireface 802?

[@EncounterCaneCorso]

Thanks. Lots to consider before uploading.

[@SeanDivine]

Indeed :) Have fun!

[@IssaMuzik]

Awesome video! Especially the last part with the stems got me. I'm often times too lazy and then have problems of Plug-Ins loading 6 months later :D

[@akthebeatz]

best mastering tips thanks

[@DreErdna]

WOW!! Genuinely impressed ! Great, strong points. I also like the background music... helps me stay connected & goes with the flow! Thank you

[@azomyte]

Thank you Sean!

[@marymoon96]

Very helpful and informative, thank you!

[@perrykeshahwalker5321]

So true bruh. So true.

[@SolairNova]

Thank you very much ! It's really helpful !

[@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

[@BradleyGagne]

Hey Sean, great video, as always. Can you show us how you've routed Spotify into your loudness meter?

[@SeanDivine]

It's a rather complicated setup using TotalMix on my RME interface 🙃 The easiest option is iZotope Audiolens / Ozone 10.

[@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?

[@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!

[@toneycosmos]

One of the most helpful videos ever

[@SeanDivine]

🙌🙏

[@bamvoxstudios]

OMG! So awesome. Thanks so much.

[@TheBlackJewelz]

So you’d recommend mastering the full session as opposed to the bounced 2-track?

[@SeanDivine]

Both have advantages - Is Mixing and Mastering in the Same Session a Good Idea? kzbin.info/www/bejne/boKugYmZg5J0mbs

[@TheBlackJewelz]

@@SeanDivine great points in there, 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 😂

[@abrac.a5024]

great vid , quick question what type of mixer is that on your desk

[@SeanDivine]

Thanks! SSL UF8

[@TGmongars]

Thanks man 🙌🙏

[@EngeniusBeatz]

This is soo awesome sean great tips and information! Having notes in the session answered a question I had about using subscription based plugins. I know they sound good but if I no longer have access I don't want the mix to fall apart. Stems and notes should be a good resolution.

[@SeanDivine]

Good point! Printing stems can save you the hassle if a subscription expires :)

[@CHXSE_TopBoi]

This video is Gold🔥🔥🙆 Question, what about your true peaks? Which ones do you recommend?

[@SeanDivine]

If you want to be on the safe side, -1dB TP for delivery. I will sometimes master closer to 0 if I can manage it :)

[@CHXSE_TopBoi]

@@SeanDivine thank you💪💯

[@theoasis444]

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

[@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?

[@alloneprostudio1535]

Keep up the good work bro.

[@FenderLewis]

Bauce sauce! Did you mod that nt1 to a dynamic mic?

[@SeanDivine]

It's a different mic... Rode Broadcaster :)

[@FenderLewis]

Ah okay. Nice!

[@kdg6963]

i've noticed the the LUFs reading that i have when i upload is often different than what is shown in the analysis on distrokid, and that's before it even gets to the DSPs. distro usually reads it about 2 points higher than i had in the session

[@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 :)

[@stevieross4415]

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

[@youngjohonthebeat]

Waiting😘

[@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.

[@dspoet1]

Are LUFS levels the same for KZbin videos?

[@SeanDivine]

Yep! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4K8aoGCpdtro7c

[@momins-topic4470]

Thanks for nice information 👌