To learn how to make your beats louder, fix levels, EQ and compression first, then finish with a true-peak limiter. Streaming services normalise playback, so extra loudness past the platform target is turned back down.
Loud masters start with clean recordings. If the source audio is the weak link, work through the best microphone for voice recording choices in the gear hub before you touch the master bus.
How loudness is measured
Loudness is an average, not a peak, so a beat gets louder by raising its average level while the peaks stay clear of clipping. A peak meter reads how close you are to digital clipping at 0 dBFS. LUFS reads loudness. As EDM Ghost Production’s loudness guide puts it, peak tells you about clipping and LUFS tells you about loudness.
LUFS stands for Loudness Units relative to Full Scale. The integrated figure is the overall K-weighted loudness of the full track, built up from momentary measurements, so it describes the whole beat rather than its loudest bar. Because a loudness unit is the same size as a decibel, you can compare LUFS readings and decibel moves directly.
K-weighting de-emphasises low frequencies and slightly boosts the highs above roughly 2 kHz. That is why the LUFS reading can change after an EQ move even though no fader moved. Every step below affects the integrated reading, so keep a loudness meter on the master from the start.
LUFS targets by streaming platform
No single LUFS figure is mandatory. A master near -14 LUFS integrated is the most useful reference for a release that will reach several services, and Apple Music sits slightly lower.
| Platform | Integrated loudness | Playback behaviour | Planning use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spotify | -14 LUFS default; true peak -1 dBTP in its artist documentation | Boosts quiet masters only as far as peaks allow | Use as the main reference target |
| Apple Music | -16 LUFS | Boosts quiet masters only as far as peaks allow | A -14 LUFS master is turned down slightly |
| Tidal | -14 LUFS | Only turns loud tracks down | Loudness past the target is wasted |
| YouTube Music | -14 LUFS | Only turns loud tracks down | Same target as Spotify works |
| Amazon Music | -14 LUFS; true peak -2 dBTP | Only turns loud tracks down | Leave a little more peak room if you deliver here |
Figures come from Mat Leffler Schulman’s streaming loudness guide and EDM Ghost Production; the Apple Music and Amazon Music values are third-party measurements, not platform-published specifications.
Loudness normalisation is purely for the benefit of the end-user, so it is a playback behaviour, not a fixed mastering target. The gain adjustment happens in the stream and your file is not modified. There is no loudness advantage to pushing past the target, because the extra gain is removed at playback. A quiet, dynamic master is lifted only on Spotify and Apple Music, and only as far as its peaks allow, so do not count on a boost everywhere.
The seven steps, in order
The order matters. Each stage feeds the next, and the limiter and meters come last, so loudness is built from a clean base instead of being forced at the end.
Step one: set clean levels
Gain staging means setting every track so the signal stays clean from input to master bus. Keep individual meters well away from 0 dBFS, the digital clipping point, and turn noisy or oversized parts down rather than pushing everything else up. Distortion introduced early gets magnified by every compressor and limiter that follows. The same principle applies at the input stage when recording, as What Is Microphone Gain? A Practical Guide To Setting It Right (2026) – Voiceoriginals explains.
Step two: clear space with EQ
Use EQ to remove clashes before you raise the master level. Filter low end from parts that do not need weight, and cut where two sounds fight, rather than boosting each one louder. Because K-weighting treats low and high frequencies differently, check the loudness meter after every EQ move. Subtractive moves free room for the final level to rise without parts masking each other.
Step three: shape dynamics with compression
Compression narrows the gap between loud and quiet moments, which gives the limiter less work later. The loudness range (LRA) shows how much you have narrowed it. According to Mat Leffler Schulman, a track with an LRA of 2 LU is almost uniformly loud, while 12 LU means significant dynamic variation. His guideline for most music is that an LRA between about 6 and 14 LU reflects a master that has been processed intentionally. That is an author guideline, not a standard, but it is a useful sanity check for beats that feel either flat or uneven.
Step four: add density in parallel
Parallel compression and gentle saturation are optional density tools. Blend a heavily compressed copy of drums or the beat bus under the dry signal, and keep any saturation subtle. Add them gradually and stop when the integrated reading rises but the transients begin to dull. Never judge by ear alone, because louder always sounds better for a moment.
Step five: set the limiter
Place the limiter last in the chain and use a true-peak mode if it has one. EDM Ghost Production advises setting the ceiling to -1 dB and verifying with a true-peak meter. The reason is lossy delivery: when a WAV file is transcoded to Ogg Vorbis or AAC, encoding can push inter-sample peaks higher, so a master at 0 dBTP can exceed full scale afterwards. Where no platform limit is published, -1 dBTP is a safe working ceiling. That is a ceiling, not a loudness target.
Step six: match your destination
Compare the integrated LUFS reading with the table above. For a release going to streaming, aim near the shared -14 LUFS reference. If you deliver to Amazon Music, leave extra true-peak room. If the beat is for club or DJ use, a hotter master is a stylistic choice, covered in the next section.
Step seven: verify on more than one system
Read integrated loudness over the whole track, not a single chorus, and confirm true peak with a true-peak meter. Match levels before comparing with a reference track, then listen on monitors, small speakers and headphones to catch masking or distortion. Accurate headphones make this easier, and Best Music Production Headphones In 2026: Accurate, Comfortable Picks For Every Budget – Voiceoriginals compares picks by budget.
Does a limiter hurt dynamics?
A limiter hurts dynamics when it is pushed hard, and it is transparent when it only trims occasional peaks. A heavily limited master has its transients compressed flat and its dynamics squeezed into a narrow band, according to Mat Leffler Schulman. Since streaming normalisation removes loudness past the target, that squeeze rarely buys anything on those platforms.
Practitioners treat loudness as genre-dependent. Streaky’s mastering guide calls -8 RMS the standard target for most genres in professional day-to-day work, with house, techno and electronic music able to push into -6 to -7 RMS. It adds that a crushed master at -8 RMS is worse than a well-limited one at the same level. These are practitioner views on RMS, not platform specifications.
In practice, let compression and EQ do the shaping and keep the limiter’s work modest. If you need more level and the beat starts to lose punch, go back to the EQ and compression stages instead of lowering the limiter threshold further.
Frequently asked questions
Does Spotify change my audio file?
No. The gain adjustment happens during playback and the file is not modified. Spotify also offers listener settings: Quiet at about -19 LUFS, the default at -14 LUFS, and Loud at -11 LUFS, according to Mat Leffler Schulman.
How many dB is one LU?
A loudness unit is the same size as a decibel, so a master reading quieter than another by some number of LU is quieter by the same number of dB, as EDM Ghost Production notes.
Should I master lower than -14 LUFS for Apple Music?
Not necessarily. Apple Music’s Sound Check sits at approximately -16 LUFS according to Streaky, and the AES recommendation reported by EDM Ghost Production is an average of about -16 LUFS for music, with the loudest album track at about -14 LUFS integrated. A master near -14 LUFS is a reasonable compromise across services.
