The #1 Audio Engineering Membership For Turning Your Mixes Into Professional Songs
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How Loud Should My Mix Be?
How loud a mix should be is definitely a debated topic. Searching for the answer leads to multiple answers, each using different tools for measurement.
But perhaps, to best answer to this question, it helps to think from the perspective of a mastering engineer.
Mastering has always been a way for records to compete with one another sonically. It started when record labels discovered that if they boosted 3kHz on their records, it would sound better on radio, and in turn people would enjoy these records more.
An EQ bump at 3kHz. was how Mastering got started
A lot has certainly changed since then, but what remains the same is that idea - the idea that there is a way to make a record sound better, and in turn, make it more enjoyable for the listener.
With this in mind, a lot of mixing and mastering engineers have used perceived loudness as a way to accomplish this.
How Loud is Too Loud?
To answer this question, we need to look into the popular platforms for distribution of today.
These include, but certainly aren’t limited to Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, Soundcloud, and Tidal. Each of these online platforms implement a process known as ‘Normalization.’ Normalization ensures that all songs playback as the same, or very similar levels on their platform.
Take a look at this chart.
Loudness settings from Spotify's Artist FAQ section
Notice that Spotify not only alters your song’s volume, it offers different options to their listeners. Also notice that Spotify’s loudest setting, plays the track at -11dB LUFS.
In order to accomplish this, Spotify will turn down the overall volume of your song. This varies based on whatever setting the listener has selected.
For example, if a track was mastered at -10dB LUFS, its loudness will be truncated to comply with Spotify’s normalization settings.
This means there are few reasons why a master should be louder than these settings.
Most Mixes Are Too Loud
With the availability of limiters, and a fair amount of sources influencing mixing engineers to use them, mixes are often sent off for mastering at levels that are far too loud.
Izotope's Maximizer Limiter
In fact, a fair amount of mixes are louder than the afore mentioned Spotify settings.
So what does this mean for my mix and master?
Essentially, your mastering engineer is going to have to turn your mix down before mastering. This leads to a less dynamic master if limiting was involved.
At What Volume Should I Mix?
This brings us back to our original question.
So long as your mixes give the mastering engineer room to work, and cover your noise floor, then you’re in a good range.
I recommend mixing at -23 dB LUFS, or having your peaks be between -18dB and -3dB. This will allow the mastering engineer the opportunity to process your song, without having to resort to turning it down.
Izotope's Insight Plugin, with an integrated LUFS of -22.3
Conclusion:
Next time you’re curious about how loud your mix should be, think about it from the prospective of a mastering engineer. Give them room to work on your mix. The end result will be more dynamic, spacious, and comply with normalization standards, using minimal volume truncation.
How do you prepare your mix for master?
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
