Mastering Tips: -14 LUFS is Nonsense!

It's amazing how many people still confuse a DSP's (Digital Service Providers) normalisation level as a suggestion about what volume they should master to. I was shocked this week by the number of posts I saw still about mastering to -14LUFS and I wanted to address it.

Insight 2 is a Loudness Meter than can measure Integrated LUFS values

For those of you who don't know what I'm on about. LUFS (Loudness Unit Full Scale) was a loudness measurement introduced into broadcasting many years ago to try and keep the adverts and music in a similar loudness range. Therefore listeners on the radio and tv wouldn't have to keep changing the volume if one piece of audio was much louder or quieter than another.

Honestly, I couldn't believe that in 2025 people are still suggesting that -14LUFS is the correct level to master your music to. This could be the biggest, single culprit of fake news in this industry. It's just flat out WRONG advice.

If you look at ANY professionally mastered material it will exceed -14LUFS (unless is just so happened that they independently decided -14 was the appropriate level for the music - but it wouldn't have been a TARGET they were aiming for.)

For example, have a look at the LUFS levels of the songs below. I've chosen a random track from each decade so you can see the LOUDNESS WAR in action - music has progressively got louder and louder:

Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On = -13 LUFS (1971)

Michael Jackson - Beat it = -8 LUFS (1982)

The Prodigy - Breathe = -6 LUFS (1997)

Skrillex, Jack U, Diplo - Where R U now = -5 LUFS (2015

Maverick Sabre Break Remix = -3 LUFS (2025)

Hopefully you can see the upwards trend in loudness!

Many DSPs have a normalisation level that is on in their platform by default. For instance: Spotify is -14 LUFS, Apple is -16 LUFS at the time of writing. This means that they will turn any uploaded tracks down in volume if they exceed this level.

HINT: Pretty much all professionally mastered commercial songs do.

They use this the same way as the traditional broadcasters so there is no jump in volume between songs. It saves you the inconvenience of having to turn songs up or down and therefore providing a better listening experience.

However, the key thing here is: it's what they choose to normalize your music too - not what you should aim for when mastering as a target.

The reality is most professional modern music ranges from -5 LUFs to -10 LUFS. Some genres (Drum n Bass) get even louder, and others (Classical) will be a lot quieter.

The key is not to obsess about these values. If you exceed -14LUFS, your track will get turned down, but everybody's is.

Focus on making a great sounding song that people will want to turn up regardless.

Here are some tips for working with loudness when mastering your music:

Tip 1:

Turn Normalization OFF on your preferred DAW. Both Spotify and Apple Music allow you to do this in their settings. If you want to get better at mixing and mastering, it's better if you hear and use references that are as the original artist / engineer intended.

Make sure Normalization Volume is turned OFF in Spotify!

Tip 2:

Forget about the LUFS value. It really isn't that important. Sure, use it as a guide to help you get in the right ballpark. However, if you have to sacrifice audio quality for loudness, please just don't. The listener can always turn it up if they love the song and want to hear more.

Tip 3:

LUFS values are affected by many factors - the frequencies in your song, the tempo of your song, the arrangement, the mix and the harmonic density of your track - to just name a few. Therefore it is not a good idea to create a good sounding mix to only then try to massage it to hit a certain number. We're making music not doing mathematics. The old adage rings true - If it sounds good it is good!

Happy Mastering!

Adam

If you want your song, EP or album professionally mastered so that it sounds incredible across all platforms - then click here.

How LUFly.