It’s happening. Spotify are switching to using LUFS for their loudness normalization. If you’re thinking ‘I thought they already used it', that’s understandable - but they didn’t.
They will in future though, and in this episode we talk about why the change matters, especially in the short-term. But also about when it doesn’t matter, and why it will hopefully matter even less as time goes on.
Topics include:
Why we don’t use Spotify
What we use instead, and why - and some of the differences
How normalization on Spotify used to work
How it’s going to work
What happens in the meantime
Why we mostly ignore the numbers, despite all this !
TMS #73 – Are you having a LUF ? – more about LUFS
Qobuz – Lossless, high spec audio streaming service
Wikipedia page about MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) encoding - used by TIDAL
Spotify Begins the Move to LUFS Normalization - Ian’s blog post
TMS #67 – Minus 14 LUFS – or NOT ?
TMS #44 - Loudness Units 101
r128x-GUI – Free loudness measurement app for OS-X
TMS #52 – DON’T aim for LUFS targets online
TMS #67 – Minus 14 LUFS – or NOT ?
This is so good it just needed it’s own episode.
It’s a groundbreaking, unique new way to make music online - and everyone should try it out ! It’s not just bleeps and beats, either - there are plenty of people using it to make fantastic acoustic and sample-based live-looping music as well.
I’m talking about Endlesss, the new live-looping-jam-with-friends-online iOS app developed by musician Tim Exile that I mentioned at the end of the last episode - and now it’s going to be available on Mac & PC !
I loved chatting to Tim for this episode, and there’s a ton of interesting ideas here even if you’re not that interested in the idea of Endlesss. We talk about:
Links
The Endlesss site
The Endlesss Studio Kickstarter
Tim Exile performing live with the Flow Machine
Ian singing his praises (along with many others) at Music Tech Fest in 2014
More info on the Flow Machine and Tim’s other projects
Real-time remote audio work IS possible - with surprising quality and flexibility ! In this show I’ll describe techniques and strategies to help you mix, master, teach and even record remotely - and even suggest some ways to jam live. Kind of. Amongst other things I’ll describe how to:
Thanks to Ian Stewart and Lij Shaw for help with ideas and testing for this episode.
Recommended:
Ian’s video: Using ListenTo and Zoom together for high-quality audio & video streaming
Audiomovers ListenTo plugin
Zoom video chat
Endlesss - amazing music collaboration jamming app for iOS
Useful:
Reaper - affordable, powerful DAW to host ListenTo, free to try
(Check out the ReaperBlog by The Mastering Show co-host Jon Tidey)
Audio Hijack - use ListenTo without a DAW
Other remote audio options:
Source Connect - pro ISDN replacement
Sessionwire - remote realtime audio & video (Mac only)
Steinberg VST Connect - realtime remote audio & video (Cubase & Nuendo only)
Pro Tools Cloud Collaboration - share live audio projects online (Pro Tools 12.5+)
OhmStudio - share live audio projects online in a very affordable DAW
Analogue gear online:
Audiomovers (again!)
Jamming & performing:
Ninjam - online jamming in Reaper - video by Kenny Gioia
JamKazam - play with other musicians online - fast connection required
Our guest this episode is LA mastering engineer John Greenham who just won a Grammy for his work on Billie Eilish’s album. We talk to him about how he came to work with Billie, and dig into his work on the album in depth, discussing topics including:
Ian’s Is Billie Eilish Too Loud ? video
Finneas on Producing Billie Eilish’s Hit Album in his Bedroom
We talk on this show about making a master sound great all the time - but what does that mean ? How can you tell the difference between a good or a great master, or whether you’re doing great work yourself, or not ? In this episode we discuss all these questions, plus:
Sandy Denny - The Best of the BBC Recordings (Spotify)
Oasis producer Owen Morris claims to have invented “brick-walling” - Video (Contains Language)
I often get asked if it’s possible to restore dynamics to a heavily limited, clipped or compressed source, to achieve a more dynamic master. The answer is… it’s complicated ! So in this episode we do our best to answer the question. Topics include:
How EQ can make your music sound louder – using LESS compression and limiting
iZotope RX Elements (affiliate link)
TMS #60 - The loudness technique you need to start using TODAY (Automation)
People are talking about minus 14 LUFS loudness more and more these days, but why ? What does this number mean, where does it come from, and why should you care ?
In this episode we answer all these questions and more, including:
TMS #52 - DON’T aim for LUFS targets online
Episode 60 - The loudness technique you need to start using TODAY
How loud ? The simple solution to optimizing playback volume online – and everywhere else
TMS 41 - The problem with loudness normalization – and TIDAL’s solution (Plus a brief history of LUFS)
Measuring ReplayGain in Audacity
Loudness normalization in Reaper
r128x-GUI - Free loudness measurement app for OS-X
Time for another Q&A episode ! As always you’ve been asking great questions, so in this episode we discuss:
TMS 65 - How to make money from mastering - with Graham Cochrane
Billie Eilish - loudness versus dynamics (Video)
Can you make money from mastering ? And if so, how ? If you’re already charging people for your work, how can you be more effective and productive ?
Our guest in this episode is Graham Cochrane from the Recording Revolution website, which has been so successful that he’s started helping other people use some of the same ideas and strategies to get them started making money in the audio business themselves.
You don’t have to be an audio blogger or YouTuber to achieve this - in this episode we talk about strategies anyone can use:
