The loudness war: why I deliver my beats at around −6 dBFS peak
Why my beats sound quieter on purpose: the loudness war, Spotify's −14 LUFS normalisation and the headroom you need to mix your vocal without crushing the beat.
If you compare one of my beats with beats from any store, mine may sound quieter. That's not an oversight: I deliver almost all my beats with peaks around −6 dBFS. I'm not part of the loudness war. Here's why, what the loudness war is, and why a beat slammed to the ceiling can be a bad gift for whoever is going to use it.
What the loudness war is
For years the industry raced to sound louder than the next track. The logic was simple: when two songs play back to back, the louder one seems more powerful, brighter, "better". That's how our hearing works (I cover it in psychoacoustics applied to production), and for a long time it was exploited.
The problem is that digital audio has a ceiling: 0 dBFS. To keep raising perceived loudness without crossing it, the only way out is to reduce dynamics: ever more aggressive limiters and clippers that flatten the peaks so everything else can come up. The result is denser and louder, but with flat transients, less real punch, more listening fatigue and, when pushed too far, distortion.
Normalisation changed the rules
Today most music is heard on platforms that normalise loudness: they measure each track and adjust its playback level so everything sounds roughly as loud. The measure is LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale), per the ITU‑R BS.1770 standard.
- Spotify: −14 LUFS integrated by default. Premium users can choose −11 ("Loud", with its own limiter) or −19 ("Quiet"). Spotify notes that the web player and some third‑party devices don't apply normalisation.
- YouTube: around −14 LUFS, always on.
- Apple Music: around −16 LUFS with Sound Check.
Sources: Spotify for Artists — Loudness normalization and the comparison table in iZotope — Mastering for streaming platforms. Platforms can change these values, so treat them as a current reference, not law.
What does it mean in practice? If a track arrives mastered at −7 LUFS, Spotify turns it down about 7 dB to sit at −14. It no longer sounds louder than the rest: it sounds just as loud, only more squashed. The dynamics sacrificed for loudness were lost for nothing. Spotify also recommends that masters louder than −14 LUFS keep true peaks below −2 dB, because very loud masters distort more easily when converted to lossy formats.
Why I deliver my beats at around −6 dBFS peak
A beat isn't a finished product: it's the foundation of a song that doesn't exist yet. A vocal is going on top, maybe doubles, ad-libs, effects. All of that needs room.
- Room for the vocal. If the beat already hits 0 dBFS, the moment you add the vocal the master bus overloads. Whoever mixes will have to turn the beat down anyway… but already squashed.
- Dynamics intact. An aggressive limiter or clipper cuts the transients of the kick, snare and 808. That can't be undone: turning it down later doesn't bring back the punch that was clipped off.
- Freedom in mixing and mastering. With headroom, the engineer decides how much compression and loudness the whole track needs, vocal included. That's the right moment to do it, not before.
- Honesty. Making a beat sound huge in the preview at the cost of making it hard to mix is selling a false sense of power. I'd rather the beat be useful.
I'd rather deliver a beat that works in your song than one that only impresses in the preview.
It's the same idea I recommend to anyone ordering a master: leave headroom and take the limiter off the master bus.
If you're an artist or engineer: what you gain
- You can bring the vocal up without fighting the beat.
- The kick and 808 keep their attack, so the compression you apply in the mix works on living material.
- The final master can take the track to whatever loudness your release needs without stacking two or three limiters in a row.
- If you work with the separate tracks, you get even more room.
A note for buyers
If my beats sound quieter than others when you preview them: it's on purpose, turn it up. Always compare at the same loudness; otherwise your ear picks the louder one even if it isn't better. And if you want the finished song to sound competitive on streaming platforms, that work happens in mixing and mastering, with your vocal already in.
Frequently asked questions
Why do your beats sound quieter than other beats?
Because I deliver almost all of them with peaks around −6 dBFS, not limited to the ceiling. It's on purpose: it leaves room to mix the beat with your vocal. Turn your player up and compare them at the same level.
What level does Spotify normalise to?
By default, −14 LUFS integrated (ITU‑R BS.1770). Premium users can choose −11 ("Loud") or −19 ("Quiet"). The web player and some third‑party devices don't normalise.
Can I use the beat as it is in my song?
Yes. Headroom doesn't change how the beat sounds, only its level. The final loudness of the whole track, with your vocal, is set in the final mix and in mastering.