How Loud Should My Mix Be Before Mastering?
If youβre getting a mix ready for mastering and wondering how loud it should be, the good news is that there isnβt a particular LUFS target you need to hit.
Your mix does not need to be as loud as a finished commercial release, and you do not need to turn it up, normalise it or add a limiter simply to make it look more βmastering readyβ on a meter.
What matters much more is that the mix sounds the way you want it to sound, isnβt clipping, and hasnβt been unnecessarily processed just to chase a loudness number. If your unmastered mix sounds noticeably quieter than the released tracks youβre comparing it with, that is completely normal.
If youβre looking for the full mastering-preparation checklist rather than just the loudness question, have a read of Preparing Your Mix for Mastering.
If youβre getting a mix ready for mastering and want me to check it before booking, you can upload it here.
What LUFS Should My Mix Be Before Mastering?
There is no particular LUFS figure that your mix needs to reach before mastering.
LUFS is a way of measuring the overall perceived loudness of audio, and it can certainly be useful when working with finished masters. But it isnβt a target that you need to mix towards before sending your track for mastering.
You might come across advice online telling you to deliver your premaster at -18 LUFS, -14 LUFS or some other specific figure. I wouldnβt worry about any of those numbers. Different mixes naturally have different loudness levels depending on the arrangement, genre, dynamics and the way they have been mixed.
A sparse acoustic track and a dense rock mix could have very different LUFS readings while both being perfectly suitable for mastering.
The important thing is not whether your meter displays the βrightβ number. It is whether the mix itself is working.
Why Does My Mix Sound Quieter Than Mastered Music?
This is probably where a lot of the confusion comes from.
You finish your mix, put on a commercially released reference track, and suddenly your own track sounds much quieter. The temptation is then to push the level up until they feel more similar, but youβre not really comparing like with like.
The commercial track has already been mastered. Part of the mastering process is establishing the final level and dynamics of the finished release, so there is nothing unusual about your unmastered mix being quieter.
When comparing your mix with released tracks, turn the reference down until the perceived loudness is reasonably similar. That makes it much easier to compare things that actually matter at the mixing stage, such as the balance, tone, low end and overall feel, rather than simply being impressed by whichever track is louder.
You donβt need to make the mix sound mastered before sending it for mastering. That rather defeats the point!
Loudness vs Peak Level
Loudness and peak level are related, but they are not the same thing.
Peak level tells you how high the loudest moment in the signal reaches. Loudness is concerned more with how loud the track feels overall.
That means two mixes can peak at roughly the same level while having very different perceived loudness.
A highly dynamic mix might contain a few loud drum transients that reach close to the maximum level while most of the song remains relatively quiet. Another mix could have those peaks controlled much more heavily and feel considerably louder overall, even though its highest peak reaches a similar point.
This is why advice such as βyour mix should peak at -6 dBFSβ does not actually answer the question of how loud your mix should be.
If youβre specifically wondering where your peaks should sit and how much space you need to leave below clipping, Iβve covered that separately in How Much Headroom Should You Leave for Mastering?.
Should I Make My Mix Louder Before Mastering?
Not simply because youβre sending it for mastering.
If your mix sounds right and you have a clean export, there is no benefit in adding extra processing purely to push up the loudness reading.
One of the most common examples is adding a limiter to the master bus and driving it until the mix starts to resemble the level of commercial releases. A limiter can change the dynamics and transients of the mix, so it isnβt the same thing as simply turning the volume up.
If the limiter is genuinely part of the sound youβve been mixing into, that is a slightly different situation. I go into that in much more detail in Should I Remove the Limiter Before Mastering?.
Similarly, there is no need to normalise the finished mix just to make it reach a particular peak level or loudness target before sending it over. If youβre unsure about that, have a look at Should I Normalise My Mix Before Mastering?.
In short, donβt change a mix youβre happy with simply because you think mastering engineers expect it to arrive louder.
Can a Mix Be Too Quiet for Mastering?
Technically, yes, but in practice it would need to be so quiet that you would immediately notice something is wrong when you listen back. Weβre talking about a mix that is far below a normal listening level even when your monitoring is turned up comfortably.
That is quite different from a mix simply sounding quieter than a finished commercial release. An unmastered mix will often feel noticeably quieter by comparison, and that on its own is not a problem. If the mix has been exported cleanly at a sensible level, I can simply adjust the gain as needed before I start mastering.
So if your mix sounds healthy when you listen back at a normal monitoring level, there is no need to worry about whether it is βloud enoughβ. It does not need to compete with the loudness of a finished master before you send it over.
How Do I Know If My Mix Is Loud Enough for Mastering?
The easiest answer is to stop worrying about whether it is βloud enough.β
Turn your monitors or headphones up to a comfortable listening level and judge the mix itself. If the balance feels right, the track sounds the way you want it to sound, there is no unwanted clipping, and you havenβt added processing purely to chase a meter reading, you are probably in perfectly good shape.
You do not need a particular LUFS reading, and you do not need your mix to compete for loudness with finished releases before mastering.
If you want to check the rest of your export settings before sending the mix over, my guide to How Should I Export My Mix for Mastering? covers file format, bit depth, sample rate, limiting, export range and the final checks to make.
And if youβre still unsure, feel free to send me your mix. Iβm always happy to have a listen and let you know if thereβs anything Iβd suggest changing before mastering.