Loud tracks in mastering: what 4,346 uploads showed

Many tracks come to mastering already very loud, especially ones generated by AI. We looked at what happens to them next and changed our mastering rule based on the data. This article has aggregate numbers only: no files, titles or user data.

The numbers

Loudness was measured as integrated loudness in LUFS, per ITU-R BS.1770. The crest factor is the gap between the peaks and the average level: the smaller it is, the more the hits and attacks are squashed.

What it means

Making a loud track even louder rarely helps. Of the masters that came out louder than −8 LUFS, 86% had a crest factor under 9 dB. The drum hits and attacks in those tracks are already flattened, and on streaming platforms that buys no extra loudness.

The platform turns the track down anyway. Spotify adjusts tracks to −14 dB LUFS during playback (Spotify for Artists help, checked 29.10.2026). A master at −8 LUFS gets about 6 dB quieter, and the squashed dynamics stay.

But a loud track should not be pulled down hard either. "Too quiet" feedback came almost only when the master ended up 5 LU or more below the source. People hear their track next to the original, and a drop like that sounds like a loss.

What we changed

Since 28 October 2026, Magic Master mastering has a new rule for loud sources:

• a loud source is lowered by no more than 3 LU;
• an automatic target is never louder than −10 LUFS;
• a manual loudness target, reference mastering, the Already loud preset and the speech presets work as before.

That keeps the track close to what you heard before mastering without turning it into a brick that the platform will turn down anyway.

What to do with a loud track

1. Check the loudness and true peak: the LUFS analyzer is free.
2. If the track was generated by AI, clean the digital artifacts first: AI artifact cleanup goes before the limiter, not after.
3. Master the track for your platform in the app: there are loudness targets for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others.
4. If you want a loud sound on purpose, pick the Already loud preset or set the target by hand.

How we counted

We took every mastering job in the 99 days to 28 October 2026 whose source was louder than −10 LUFS and compared the loudness of the source and the result, the crest factor of the result and the feedback on the job. These are tracks from people who chose to master them, so the sample does not describe all music online. We publish aggregate numbers only.