Streaming services normalise loudness, which means a crushed master gets turned down and loses its impact. Mastering for streaming is about density and clarity, not raw volume.

Know the targets

Most platforms play back around minus fourteen LUFS integrated. We aim slightly louder for energetic genres and keep true peaks below minus one decibel to avoid distortion after encoding.

Protect the transients

Slow attack times on bus compression and gentle limiting keep the kick and snare punching through. A master with movement feels louder than a flat one at the same level.

Before release, we listen on phones, laptop speakers and a car. If it translates there, it is ready.