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How loud should my master be for Spotify?

Short answer: aim for around −14 LUFS integrated with peaks no higher than −1 dBTP. Here is what those numbers mean and when to break the rule.

· 3 min read

Every streaming service turns songs up or down so listeners don’t have to touch the volume between tracks. This is called loudness normalization, and it changes how you should think about mastering. Making your song as loud as possible doesn’t make it louder on Spotify. Past a point, it just gets turned down and sounds flatter than everyone else’s.

What LUFS means

LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale) measures how loud a song feels, not just how high its peaks go. A song with constant energy measures louder than a song with the same peaks and lots of quiet parts.

  • Integrated LUFS is the average loudness of the whole song. This is the number streaming services use.
  • Short-term LUFS is the loudness over the last few seconds. Useful for checking your hook against your verse.

LUFS numbers are negative. Closer to zero means louder: −9 LUFS is much louder than −14 LUFS.

What true peak means

Your DAW’s meter shows sample peaks. When audio is converted to MP3, AAC or Ogg for streaming, or played through a phone’s converter, the waveform between samples can go higher than any sample did. True peak (dBTP) measures those in-between peaks. If true peak goes above 0, the encoded file can distort, even if your meter never showed red.

The targets

  • Spotify normalizes to about −14 LUFS by default, and recommends keeping true peak below −1 dBTP (below −2 dBTP if your master is louder than −14 LUFS).
  • YouTube plays music at about −14 LUFS.
  • Apple Music, with Sound Check on, plays at about −16 LUFS.
  • SoundCloud doesn’t normalize, so loud masters do play louder there.

Services change these from time to time, but −14 LUFS with a −1 dBTP ceiling has been a safe target for years.

So should every master be −14 LUFS?

Not necessarily. −14 LUFS is where your song will be played, not a rule about how you have to master it.

  • If you master quieter (say −16), Spotify turns you up, but only as far as your peaks allow. You might end up slightly quieter than other songs in a playlist.
  • If you master louder (say −9, common in rap, trap, drill and EDM), Spotify turns you down by 5 dB. Nothing breaks, but the heavy limiting it took to get to −9 is still there. Your song can sound squashed next to a more dynamic one at the same playback level.

Plenty of hit records are mastered louder than −14 on purpose, because the dense, pushed sound is part of the genre. That’s a creative choice. What you want to avoid is crushing a song to win a loudness war that normalization already ended.

How to master to a target in Logic Pro

  1. Leave headroom in the mix. Your mix should peak around −6 to −3 dBFS with no limiter on the Stereo Out.
  2. Insert a Loudness Meter on the Stereo Out (Metering → Loudness Meter). Play the whole song to get an integrated reading.
  3. Add gentle glue if the mix needs it: a Compressor at a low ratio (1.5:1 to 2:1) doing 1 to 2 dB of gain reduction.
  4. Add a limiter last: Adaptive Limiter in the slot above the Loudness Meter, so the meter reads the final result, with its output ceiling at −1 dB and True Peak Detection on. Raise the gain until the integrated reading reaches your target.
  5. Listen for damage. If the kick loses its punch or the vocal starts to crackle on loud notes, back the limiter off. A slightly quieter master that sounds clean beats a loud one that distorts.

Logic Pro also has Mastering Assistant, which analyses the song and sets up a mastering chain automatically. It’s a good starting point; check its loudness reading against your target. If you’d rather use an online service, we compare them in LANDR alternatives.

Common mistakes

  • Mastering a mix that isn’t finished. A limiter makes everything louder, including problems. If the vocal is buried in the mix, it will still be buried in the master.
  • Judging by volume. Louder always sounds better at first. Match the level when you compare your master with the unmastered mix or a reference track.
  • Ignoring true peak. A master that reads −0.1 dB on a sample meter can still clip after encoding.