LUFS submissions standards (revisited)

[BoiseMarketer]

I can see a post regarding LUFS from 2016 where someone points out they, "don't know anyone who uses LUFS." And I'm curious to see if that sentiment has changed today in 2020.

I am new to Taxi, but have been using Wave's Loudness Meter (set to Spotify's submission standards in the link below) to ensure my music is competitively loud.

In my research, on how much to factor LUFS into my final production; this video gives a compelling reason why LUFS are both relevant and important.

I would love to hear what the Taxi pros think and if using streaming standards is advisable for Taxi submissions.

LUFS Video On YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMGIgJAsJpw

Spotify Submission Standards:
https://artists.spotify.com/faq/masteri ... s-mastered

Wave's Loud Meter:
https://www.waves.com/plugins/wlm-loudn ... eaming-wlm

[ResonantTone]

Hey BoiseMarketer,

I think LUFs are very important for a few different reasons. I check them quite frequently as I am creating my music.

You definitely do not want to mix to streaming standards for Taxi submissions. Most of the streaming services such as spotify have a target of something like -14 db LUFS, and if you exceed this, you'll get a loudness penalty of sorts and it will be brought down. They do this so that they can normalize all their tracks and prevent massive perceived volume changes between songs.

For Taxi, there is no normalization or loudness penalty. For the most part, you'll need to mix your songs as loud as possible without sacrificing quality, as it pertains to the genre and song. If you don't, you're track will most likely get skipped over by someone important that is just flipping through songs and thinks yours isn't as good because it's quieter.

Hope that helps a bit!

Andrew

[MBantle]

Hey BoiseMarketer,

I think LUFs are very important for a few different reasons. I check them quite frequently as I am creating my music.

You definitely do not want to mix to streaming standards for Taxi submissions. Most of the streaming services such as spotify have a target of something like -14 db LUFS, and if you exceed this, you'll get a loudness penalty of sorts and it will be brought down. They do this so that they can normalize all their tracks and prevent massive perceived volume changes between songs.

For Taxi, there is no normalization or loudness penalty. For the most part, you'll need to mix your songs as loud as possible without sacrificing quality, as it pertains to the genre and song. If you don't, you're track will most likely get skipped over by someone important that is just flipping through songs and thinks yours isn't as good because it's quieter.

Hope that helps a bit!

Andrew

+1

[cosmicdolphin]

I think it's a moot point anyway as for TV it's the person mixing the show that will decide the final level of the music and ll the other elements to make sure it conforms to whatever LUFS. Our music often sits below dialogue and stuff so they want it to pop even if it's at a low level so more limited / compressed mixes will sound more consistent when behind other elements.

No Library ever asked me to make anything quieter or master with more dynamic range but I have been asked quite a few times to make things louder.

[BoiseMarketer]

For Taxi, there is no normalization or loudness penalty. For the most part, you'll need to mix your songs as loud as possible without sacrificing quality, as it pertains to the genre and song. If you don't, you're track will most likely get skipped over by someone important that is just flipping through songs and thinks yours isn't as good because it's quieter.

This makes total sense. So rather than focusing on a popular, established streaming standard; it probably makes most sense to use reference tracks in the similar style or genre to what we're submitting for target perceived volume?

[BoiseMarketer]

No Library ever asked me to make anything quieter or master with more dynamic range but I have been asked quite a few times to make things louder.

Ha ha I understand exactly what you're saying. Thank you for chiming in on my question.

[ResonantTone]

For Taxi, there is no normalization or loudness penalty. For the most part, you'll need to mix your songs as loud as possible without sacrificing quality, as it pertains to the genre and song. If you don't, you're track will most likely get skipped over by someone important that is just flipping through songs and thinks yours isn't as good because it's quieter.

This makes total sense. So rather than focusing on a popular, established streaming standard; it probably makes most sense to use reference tracks in the similar style or genre to what we're submitting for target perceived volume?

Bingo. Get your stuff sounding on par with reference tracks and you should be in a pretty good spot.

Andrew

[eeoo]

It's also worth noting that many sync publishers are treating there composers more as artists, I think they have clients that feel like licensing a song from an artist has more cache/hipness factor than licensing a cue from a music library. To that end many publishers now request "albums" from their composers with "artist" names that will be available on streaming platforms in which case it would be wise to pay attention those standards.

[ttully]

I did have 1 library that wanted everything at a certain LUFS.
But I usually just listen to the reference.... and then MAKE MINE LOUDER!!! Ha..I'll show them!!



Tim

[cosmicdolphin]

I did have 1 library that wanted everything at a certain LUFS.
But I usually just listen to the reference.... and then MAKE MINE LOUDER!!! Ha..I'll show them!!
Tim

Makes sense if it's a theme tume, and nothing else is playing but otherwise you're often underneath all the dialogue ..Your stuff will stand out more impressive Tim by being one louder