Most leading streaming services have implemented some form of loudness normalization, turning the act of mastering for streaming platforms into a bit of a minefield.
In this article we’ll take a look at some myths surrounding how the different services normalize audio, whether there are ideal LUFS and peak levels, how normalization impacts song-to-song level balances in albums, and why some songs still sound quieter than others, even with normalization turned on.
Continue reading on iZotope Learn.
When it recently came time for me to choose a new music streaming service, I decided to go full nerd and compiled a spreadsheet that scores each service on twenty-five criteria. Then I added user-adjustable weighting for each criterion so that the overall scores reflect what’s important – or not – for different people. Of course, no spreadsheet is complete without charts to help visualize everything. My wife knew it was bad when she got home from work and I was excitedly ranting about a spreadsheet.
But here’s the good news: now that it’s done you can use it to help choose the music streaming service that’s best for you, and if you’re just curious about my take and how I got there I’ll share that too.