Should my mixes be as loud as a CDQ song?

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daviddavid123

New member
Hello everyone. Should the beats i am making at home on my computer be as loud as CDQ songs that i have in my itunes? Or is it normal for mine to be quieter? If isn't normal, how do i get my beats to be as loud as the songs on ituntes and spotify??
 
You have two solutions:
- You can activate the playback level normalisation in the iTune software.
- You can master your home tracks.
 
daviddavid123 said:
Hello everyone. Should the beats i am making at home on my computer be as loud as CDQ songs that i have in my itunes? Or is it normal for mine to be quieter? If isn't normal, how do i get my beats to be as loud as the songs on ituntes and spotify??
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It is entirely a creative choice how loud you decide to make your mix. But be aware that encoded/compressed audio clips sooner than CD, so when the playback medium is compressed audio, leave a bit more room at the ceiling during the bounce. An average of -0.5 dB is pretty good if you do not like to bounce for various playback formats.

It is not wise to try to convince everyone that a -15 integrated LUFS version of the chorus of a modern pop mix is optimal even if it's perceived pretty loud by the ears at that level, with or without normalization it's just not an optimal use of the signal. Personally I find that modern EDM/pop mixes can sound great even up to levels around -6.2 integrated LUFS in the chorus (under the right circumstances, read below), but it can also sound harsh, it all depends on the quality of the signal at that level. (again, read below)

But keep in mind that integrated LUFS and the ear's perception of loudness are not identical, in an A/B scenario that is important to be aware of. It is the combination of the average frequency of the entire song section (the so called signature frequency) and the LUFS that will more precisely indicate at what loudness level the ears perceive the mix to be compared to some other mix.

So if you read something like -9.8 integrated LUFS from a modern EDM track chorus that you love and you tune your chorus to that same loudness level, but your chorus signature frequency is something entirely different than that track's chorus after that LUFS alignment, then you have not matched the perceived loudness level of that target even if they match in terms of integrated and momentary/short term LUFS.

What can happen when you loudness align your track against a very pro track at a demanding level of say -6.2 integrated LUFS in the chorus is that against your signature frequency that might mean you now have a lot of clipping type of distortion present at frequency bands that are very sensitive to the ears. (that overall distortion can be due to other things too)
 
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I wouldn't worry about it. People tend to turn down a song if it's way louder than the other one they were just listening to. Normalization gets you pretty close without affecting your audio at all. It also depends on the song. Some genres of music actually purposely clip their music to make it as loud as possible (because instead of turning down the peaks, you're straight up chopping them off, destructively). This doesn't work for a lot of music, but for something like Dubstep, which is already pretty distorted, it's a good way to achieve more loudness.

Again, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
 
Producers sometimes limit there tracks to the stage they lose all dynamics of the tune.
I often send back a lot of stuff from producers, who have said they master themselves because they simply want it as loud and kill everything in the track.
It all depends on your mixdowns as well if you have a really good mixdown the mastering will be easier to get that loudness without messing up all your dynamics.
Use your ears i've had a few amateur producers in the studio and ive boosted the volumes just to show them when its clipping and they dont seem to realise until you point it out so always get a 2nd fresh pair of ears.
 
I have a question. When I am in my final mastering, I use a limiter to bring up the volume to 0db after compression. Is that the proper way? I do a light compression just to cut down some of the obvious peaks. The only reason that I bring the volume up is for show casing.. like on youtube or soundcloud.
 
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