Would you benefit from having alternate versions of your master for streaming services and other platforms? Mastering engineer Justin Colletti gives his take.
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The short answer:
No. For most people, a single master will work best. You will probably want to master slightly hotter than the streaming services recommend, but you no longer need to try and go super loud to “beat” other tracks.
A range of -13 LUFS to -9 LUFS will probably be appropriate for most rock and pop masters, and -11 LUFS to -7 LUFS can be appropriate for a lot of hip hop, and -9 LUFS to -6 LUFS can be appropriate for a lot of EDM/electronic/dance tracks.
You may want to push things even louder than this if the extra compression and limiting gives you a tone that you love, but going louder than this can also compromise your material if you are already loving its sound at a lower level.
It is no longer necessary to push things hotter and hotter just to be “loud enough”, so you can be a little more conservative in level setting today. But there may also be some benefits to mastering slightly louder than streaming services recommend. The latter is what this episode is all about.
For a longer written answer, try here:
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