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making your music sound great

TIDAL upgrade their loudness normalization - and enable it by default

November 14th, 2017 BY Ian Shepherd

Developments in loudness normalization are coming thick and fast, these days - and TIDAL just raised the bar.

Quality has always been one of the major selling-points of TIDAL's streaming service - it's one of the few places that lossless streaming is available, still. And that means they've been wanting to enable normalization by default in their players for some time. So that we won't be blasted by sudden changes in level, which is a major source of user complaints.
 

But there's a problem...

...and it also relates to quality.

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YouTube Stats For Nerds - EXACT volume normalization values revealed, and how to find them

September 29th, 2017 BY Ian Shepherd

Are you confused about exactly what YouTube's playback volume normalization is doing to your music ?

Maybe you understand the basic idea but struggle to predict exactly what will happen when videos are uploaded ?

Well, that’s understandable - the procedure is still inconsistent and unpredictable. Some songs are measured and normalized right away, others take weeks, some never seem to be normalized at all.

But it is happening - and YouTube just added an important new feature which can really help you get a grip on the process.

You can now see exactly what effect the system is having on our audio, because YouTube have exposed the normalization data in their interface. You just need to know where to find it - and what it means.
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How loud ? The simple solution to optimizing playback volume online - and everywhere else

September 26th, 2017 BY Ian Shepherd

I get asked this question literally every day, now.

And I see people asking it, everywhere:

“What’s the ideal loudness for my music to get the best playback volume online?”

Because people have realized that loudness normalization is a reality. They know that loud songs are turned down to stop users being blasted by sudden changes in volume - and they've probably heard some numbers: -14 LUFS for YouTube, -16 for iTunes and Pandora, -14 for Spotify and TIDAL… but which one should you choose ? Is there a perfect number, or do you have to submit different masters for every platform ?

In this post I’ll answer that question, simply and clearly.

(If you’re impatient, feel free to skip to the end – but please come back and read this explanation afterwards, too !)

Before that though, it’s important to realise – asking this question misses three key points.
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The surprisingly simple hack to make your music POP online - and everywhere else !

July 25th, 2017 BY Ian Shepherd


 
This video shows a surprisingly simple technique to make your music stand out online - even in an aggressive genre like EDM.

The trick is easy, the video includes a real-world example to prove that it works, and best of all - it's free !

Actually that's not the best of all - the best of all is that this tip works in any genre, and it doesn't only work online.

And along the way, it proves once and for all that people who tell you there's only one way to get "The Sound" in EDM... are wrong.

So, what are you waiting for ? Take a look, and if you like it - please share !

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ABOUT IAN SHEPHERD

My name is Ian Shepherd - I'm a professional mastering engineer with over 25 years experience and I run the Production Advice website with over 50,000 readers each month

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