Hitting maximum loudness
This video will show you me hitting -3 LUFS on a stem master to match the given reference, and we're going clean and punchy, and you will hear it.
I will walk you thru how I am achieving it, what I am using for it, what I improved in the production, etc.
There's one specific master tool that gives me the loudness, and it's not my main limiters - you know by now how much I rely on them.
I am also showing a few relevant decisions I've made: e.g., I completely swapped the kick with my own that works really well in loud tunes (see bottom of post for download).
I will discuss production aesthetics that are important if you want to go this loud yet clean.
I am not a crazy loudness advocate per se and I'm not trying to say you should attempt or desire this (most of daily bread stuff is -7 or -6), but when it's asked…I'll rock it if the production allows.
Every now and then, as an engineer, you're asked to master a song whose given reference is really hecking loud. You can either try and match it or say I don't want to go that loud.
The latter may often make the client go elsewhere.
So, tune in for another episode in the life of an audio engineer working on a variety of stuff (which keeps my work life spicy!)
📺 OTHER RELEVANT POSTS IN THIS THEME 📽️
• Master limiter lesson
• Limiting & clipping for loud and punchy mixes/masters [video]
• Mastering a DNB song
• If you want to get LOUD!
Download the kick I used from link below ⬇️
Also don't miss the video about creating another banging kick (+download).
Comments (9)
Absolute legend always a pleasure! Track came out so good can’t wait for the next one 💪🏻 If this somehow wins the SKIO contest you get a months worth of beer on me 🫡
sorry if this is really obvious but i don’t understand what’s the point of getting loud when everything gets normalised on streaming? (at least by default) people turn songs up and down to taste anyway and dj’s have trim knobs to level match
DJs. A lot of producers (and my clients) are DJs. They want their song to stand up to the rest. A lot of this music is used and played outside streaming. Why some genres are so loud in general? Now the producers could answer that, I'd say.
Great video as always, Fanu! Changing that kick was key. Sound selection is so important and can completely change the vibe of a track. Transgressor also looks sick, I definitely need to try that. Quick question: the two-maximizer trick is really cool. If Kratur can get you even louder than that, why not just use Kratur on every song? Is there a trade-off in terms of sound quality, punch, or transparency?
This is such a weird thing and I can’t explain it or understand it, but sometimes when working on more dynamic material, Ozone just sounds more natural and smooth compared to Kraftur. This is why I continue to prefer Ozone for most stuff!
Ooft...that first tune was LOUD. And HARSH.
Yeah, I did feel I wanna go a bit less bright!
Great tips, thank you
sheeesh, i never would’ve expected 1 plugin instance could get -3lufs cleanly. awesome