Do I Need Multiple Masters for Streaming Services (or Vinyl?) [Article + Podcast]

Would you benefit from having alternate versions of your master for streaming services and other platforms? This is a question that comes in regularly from my mastering clients. In today’s podcast episode and article, I give you my take.

Want the short answer? OK, here goes: Nope! For the vast majority of people, a single great sounding master that is slightly louder than the streaming platforms’ targets will be the ideal.

For the long version, including specific loudness recommendations, check out the episode below! For the medium length answer, see the article-length post right below the video.

Here’s the medium length version of my answer if you don’t want to listen to the whole podcast episode:

You will probably be best served by a single master that is slightly louder than the streaming services recommend. This will be the best approach for more than 90% of releases.

Going a little louder than streaming services recommend is a great way to get a master that plays well everywhere.

Thanks to automatic volume normalization, you no longer need to try and go super loud just to try and match or even “beat” other tracks in loudness. That’s becoming much less relevant. But you won’t suffer from going a little louder than they recommend either, and may even benefit from it in a few notable ways.

To stay on the safer side, a range of -13 LUFS to -9 LUFS will probably be appropriate for most rock and pop masters. -11 LUFS to -7 LUFS can be appropriate for a lot of hip hop, and -9 LUFS to -6 LUFS can be appropriate for a lot of EDM/electronic/dance tracks.

Of course, there’s plenty of crossover and overlap and outliers, but these are a decent ranges to keep in mind. Some people will argue that the upper end of the ranges stated here are “too loud”. And that can be true, depending on your tastes. But you will also find many contemporary major releases that are even louder than this! Some of them sound absolutely great too.

You may want to push your master even louder than these reasonably “safe” ranges if the extra compression and limiting gives you a tone that you love. But know that going louder than this range might also compromise the sound of your master if you are already loving its sound at a lower level.

Fortunately, there’s no real “need” to go any louder than this other than aesthetic choice, as there is basically no reason to push your music louder than these ranges just for the sake of loudness anymore.

Remember that no matter how much louder than -14 LUFS (or so) you go, the loudest parts of your tracks will be no louder than the loudest parts of any other tracks, when they are heard on streaming services including Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Pandora, Tidal and the like. So you can be a little more conservative in level setting today.

However, there may also be some benefits to mastering slightly louder than streaming services recommend.

One potential benefit is that a louder master will have quiet sections that are louder than the quiet sections on a quieter master.

For example, a track that is mastered to -10 LUFS in its hottest sections may have quiet sections of -13 LUFS. When this is turned down by 4dB by Spotify for example, the loud sections will now be -14 LUFS, while yje quiet sections are -17 LUFS.

Compare this to a track that was mastered more quietly, to only -14 LUFS, and because of the less aggressive mastering has quiet sections of only -20 LUFS. The louder master may have loud sections that are no louder than the quiet master does. But when you compare the loudness of the quiet sections the loud master may have substantially louder quiet sections.

This ties into another potential benefit: A louder master may be more dynamically consistent, which can give a more powerful presentation in certain genres, and can also make the music better suited for listening to in environments with louder background noise, such as on a subway, in a car or in a bar or club.

Further, having a master that is slightly louder than streaming services require may translate better in environments where automatic normalization is not used. So long as the track is not pushed TOO hard, it will not be compromised when played on streaming services—and may even have a tone you like better. This approach allows you to have one version of the album that works everywhere, cutting down on cost, complexity and confusion.

This ties into one final benefit: Sometimes the only way to achieve a particular tone is to push things hard with limiting and compression. For some genres and styles this may be appropriate. For others it may not be. As always, meters can be a helpful guide, but final decisions require good taste and should always be made by ear.

Want to go even deeper? Try my full length course Mastering Demystified, or my free intro to mastering at Mastering 101. I hope this helps!

Justin Colletti is a mastering engineer who writes and speaks about the intersection between audio, art, business and creativity. He edits SonicScoop.

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