I don't know if young people (I'm 65) realize how truly blessed they are to be in this time of technology. Everything from the reasonable cost of computer recording, plugins at crazy low prices, and to me the biggest thing, KZfaq where we can watch videos like yours, and learn from start to finish, how to mix, master (lufs) and share our music. My first experience with recording was in 1985, with my Yamaha 4 track. Man, how things have changed since then... I wish I were 30 years younger, so I could have more years to experience all of this wonderful technology. I want to thank you again for another great video, Sean. Cheers!

You are the only person in the audio engineering field that I have ever seen take the time to explain how things operate. You being in your prime is indeed a blessing. We are appreciative of your generous sharing of your vast knowledge.

one of your best videos hands down. there aren’t a lot of videos that really dive into how streaming platforms work for artists and you answered questions i’ve had for years

I just wanna say that i appreciate you sharing with us over the years! Ive learned so much and have became really in tune with Mixing and also beat making! been my heart since i was young! I can relate so heavy with the way you explain things and i greatly thank you bro! i know the work that you have put in and its much respect bro!!! Blessings to you and the fam!!

I really appreciate your videos Sean, my sound has improved 10 fold since watching them.

Sean you're doing great work of educating people. Spotify and apple should explain it like that about delivery levels. First I didn't know about LUFS. Then I was confused about -14 level and now I know.

You are goated bro 🙏🏽 I’ve been watching your videos for years and you consistently help my engineering through these vids!

Bro Thank you my question ive been searching for the answer to mistake number 1 for a while my masters are consistently hitting -8, -9 lufs and i get worried about that now i can finally deliver my masters with confidence and ease your the man sean got yourself a new fan

Thanks for this very helpful video Sean. I definitely fell for the loudness war once, but also found out what really matters. Great job 👊

Wow seriosuly thank you! I'm about to distribute my first self-mixed and mastered song and I almost made it way quieter out of fear of Spotify distorting or compressing it for being higher than -14 LUFS, but now I feel more comfortable

This is about the most informative video I've seen. Thanks a lot for this video Sean. Being having a lot of issues with my mastering these days but this video just gave me a leap on

Hey Sean, hope you’re doing well! Just wanna say thanks for making this video! It answered a lot of questions I had on the topic and gave some extra info I would never thought of (meta data). Thanks man!

You’ve inspired me to love and appreciate the mixing process!

Great video, Sean. This is the first time I've seen anyone cover these topics so extensively. Thank you.

Thanks for the video. LUFS drive me crazy. I always hear different things from different people. My first album was mastered in a studio at -14 LUFS and it's more quiet than everything else on the streaming platforms and it drives me nuts. Now that I'm doing my own mastering, I've been trying to kick it up but I'm paranoid about doing too much and losing dynamics when it gets nerfed on the platforms. I've uploaded singles that have been mastered in different ways. I'm getting ready to take those down as I'm about to finish up a new album, all mastered on the same timeline. Hearing you explain that -9 to -11, or so, will be just fine makes me feel a lot more confident. Appreciate the video.

Great tutorial thanks so much for clarifying the LUFS situation. So good to see how Spotify actually applies the -14?etc and the relevance and at times irrelevance of it.

I’ve just started watching your videos, they’re so helpful and you’ve answered a lot of questions I had about music production, thank you so much for such high quality techniques and information

Excellent tutorial on the loudness murky void of not much consistent info. Thanks for the passing on the knowledge.

Gems 💎 on Gems 💎 on Gems 💎 Thanks for your expertise Sean 🔥🔥🔥

Excited for this one!

At last a very clear explanation about the LUFS and what (not) to do about it.

When you said “liner notes”.. 😮‍💨 I was also really interested in the liner notes on the albums I’d buy. I love being able to attach your name to my music today. You’ve made me a much more confident artist in the past year! Thank you for that!

Sean, you’re the first person to explain this so well, regarding LUFS! The only remaining exception, kind of recently, is a requirement for specifically Apple Music, specifically Spatial (or Atmos) ADM BWF surround wav file, which has to be at 24/48 -1 true peak and -18 LUFS.

You're a legend bro !!!!!! Your videos are always what a producer/engineer/artist needs..... 10/10 quality content 🙏

This video is exaclty what i needed. Thank you

best mastering tips thanks

That first tip is something that NOBODY is saying. Super helpful, I've been so confused as to why songs on Spotify seem quite a bit louder the standards are all the same and now I know. Of course quality mixing has to do with it too but that is something I am working on.

Awesome advice Sean, thank you!!!

Amazing tips as always SD! The tip about leaving space at the beginning of the track is a good one. And man if I had a dollar for everytime I opened an old session and a VST messed up I'd have at least $100 haha. Unrelated: "Tired Eyes" is an absolute BANGER!!!

That Fab Filter Pro L2 sounds so good

bro how do you not have millions of subs yet..u been here since day one with the best content..KZfaq needs to reconize

Love it my guy! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with the rest of us. 🙏🕊

This is a gem. Real game. Than you Sean! The leg work is appreciated 🙏🏽🙌🏽👏🏽🔥🐐💨💨💨

Great video, thanks for the reminder on bouncing everything down on the last tip I used to do it and then got lazy and stopped in this was a great reminder to start doing that again in case my computer crashed etc

I’ve tried to understand mastering for like 10 years and this video it all finally clicked. Lots of things I heard contradicting information. Plus I also use Distrokid and Logic (subscribed!) thanks man!

Thanks bro, I’ve been pondering about this for a while.

Thank you! Great info! I’m on a right track. The only thing I missed, that I deliver masters 44,1khz 16bit. I reconsider it to 24bit now!

Excellent video. Clearest explanation of loudness I've found, and that's saying something! Everything here is such critical information that everyone should know, but is often overlooked or not discussed at all. You're obviously an experienced pro. Take heed, people! Also, one cool thing I've discovered is the Codec feature in Ozone. You can instantly hear very clearly how your music is going to be affected by lossy encoding.

A very informative, down to earth presentation that answers a lot of questions! Thank you!

Thank you for mentioning the top of the files. A lot of the pros are cutting things right up to the first note and I hate that. I always do what you do. I like a natural feel from when the play button is hit to the actual start of the music. I also leave at least two seconds after the music ends.

Thank you Sean I really appreciate this video so many mastering engineers try to keep you in the dark about these concepts.

Thanks. Lots to consider before uploading.

I always learn something new every video. Thanks Sean!

Thank you!

Question: I’ve been listening on apple and Spotify with the normalization on so I can get an idea, and I still notice some songs are way louder than others. Why is that

I always appreciate your videos. This one is particularly useful. Thanks!

great advice! I've been looking for a video like this one!

As usual, top notch tips, Sean ! So professional.

Thank you for the referral to repost exchange

Awesome video! Especially the last part with the stems got me. I'm often times too lazy and then have problems of Plug-Ins loading 6 months later :D

Excellent and informative Vid Sean. Thanks for all the great content 🤘

Doubling back on the metadata, one of my favorite things to do on Tidal is listen to songs based off of Producers, Mixing Engineers, Studio Musicians, etc... because it allows me to listen for similar traits or ideas to "borrow" that I can spot across their work... so there's at least one weirdo out there who cares about the metadata as a study tool 😂

Thanks for clearing up the loudness debate. Do you still put your final limiter ceiling at -1.0 like they recommend, or something closer to 0?

Thanks for your videos Sean, amazingly helpful🙏

Brilliant, enlightening, and inspiring! Thanks for your service to the online community with these excellent videos. You mentioned setting up VCA channels... do you have a video somewhere that covers that process?

WOW!! Genuinely impressed ! Great, strong points. I also like the background music... helps me stay connected & goes with the flow! Thank you

Always helpful! thanks Sean!

Thanks

huge thanks

You just got yourself a new subscriber! Very good info in there thx a lot.

This is soo awesome sean great tips and information! Having notes in the session answered a question I had about using subscription based plugins. I know they sound good but if I no longer have access I don't want the mix to fall apart. Stems and notes should be a good resolution.

This is great Sean. Thank You!

That is a good advice and I am taking that note on my recent project for my next song so that I do not forget. It was so confusing regarding with maintaining in a perfect LUFS. I made mistakes on my couple of songs, including one song that I checked Loudness Normalization on Distrokid, but it is about learning and growing little by little. I have a question regarding with Dolby Atmos Mixing. If I decided to Upload a Dolby Atmos/Spatial Audio, The Loudness for Dolby Atmos is to be maintained at no louder than -18 LUFS. Does it have to be perfectly at -18 LUFS? DO we have to do the same thing such as being around -12 to -8 LUFS for Dolby Atmos version of the music?

So helpful. Thanks mate

Finally a video that is very helpful and interesting. Thank you. For once, I have learnt many important things.

ur music is underrated asf 😭🔥

Very helpful and informative, thank you!

Thank you very much ! It's really helpful !

Thank you Sean!

Thank you this really helped!

Beautiful Bro!!! Thanks.. God Bless!!!

Thank you ❤

Very well explained. Thank you.

Very nice work, bro!

OMG! So awesome. Thanks so much.

thank you for that

One of the most helpful videos ever

Waiting😘

Thank you! This video is much needed! Well explained! Didn’t you deliver at -14 LUFS before Sean? I thought I remembered you saying that in older videos? May remember wrong

Thanks man 🙌🙏

Hey Sean, great video, as always. Can you show us how you've routed Spotify into your loudness meter?

Keep up the good work bro.

Fab vid, thanks

A lot of golden information here

Thanks for nice information 👌

Any reviews of repost exchange ?

Sean love your vids, video markers next time please?

So amazing thank you

i've noticed the the LUFs reading that i have when i upload is often different than what is shown in the analysis on distrokid, and that's before it even gets to the DSPs. distro usually reads it about 2 points higher than i had in the session

Thanks for the tips! always great content! Question, how do you analyse Spotify music into logic? Thanks!!!

my song get distorted on instagram reels and i don't know what is the problem

Sorry, English is not my native language. I've been on the wrong path for so long now. How much I messed up my songs because of the -1 rule. How much better songs sound at -0.1 to -0.4 I find already noticeable. Thanks for your advice Bro.

Let's Go Sean Let's go 🇿🇦

Great video learned a lot. How did you get your meter to read Spotify?

This video is Gold🔥🔥🙆 Question, what about your true peaks? Which ones do you recommend?

Thanks for sharing

Excellent tutorial... thank you..!! (From Dubai)

Thank you bro

Great Post!!!

Sean! Mr. Divine! Where's the merch, man? We need some dope merch. Love & respect, John