Pick Your Master Loudness: -14, -11 or -8 LUFS for Spotify, Clubs or a Demo
You finished your mix and now you have to decide how loud the final master should be. The honest answer to what LUFS to master at for streaming is one number for most people, and that number is -14 LUFS. But most people is not everyone, and the right target depends on where the track is going to play.
Which LUFS for which destination
If you only read one row, read the first one. For the platforms where most listening happens, -14 LUFS is the safe default. The rest of this post is the reasoning, so you can make the call with confidence.
Why louder is not better anymore
For about twenty years, mastering meant making things as loud as possible. Whoever was loudest sounded more exciting on the radio or in a CD changer, so engineers crushed masters to squeeze out every last decibel. That era is over, and the reason is loudness normalization.
Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube all measure how loud your track is and turn it down to a fixed level, so songs in a playlist sit at roughly the same volume. Spotify normalizes to around -14 LUFS. If you deliver a master at -8 LUFS, Spotify does not reward you for the extra loudness. It just turns your track down by 6 dB. You did all that crushing for nothing, and worse, you traded away dynamic range and punch to get there.
So on a normalized platform, a master that is too loud sounds smaller, not bigger. Once the volume is matched, the more dynamic master is usually the one that hits harder. That is the whole reason the per-destination targets below exist.
Streaming at -14 LUFS, the safe default for Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube
This is where you should start, and for a lot of releases it is where you should stop. Master to -14 LUFS and your track arrives at the streaming platforms already sitting where they want it. Nothing gets turned down, nothing gets squashed by their normalization, and your dynamics survive the trip intact.
The benefit you actually feel is space. At -14 LUFS there is room for the kick to thump and the chorus to lift off from the verse. Quiet moments stay quiet, loud moments stay loud, and that contrast is what makes a song feel alive on a phone speaker or a pair of earbuds.
In Bandmixr this is the Streaming preset. Pick it, and the master targets -14 LUFS without you doing any loudness math. If your release is going to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Tidal, or Amazon Music, this is your choice nine times out of ten.
Standard at -11 LUFS, a punchier master that still travels
Sometimes -14 feels a little polite. Maybe you are putting the track on Bandcamp, where there is no normalization and the file plays back exactly as loud as you made it. Maybe you are sending a demo and you want it to land with some weight the second someone hits play. For those cases there is a middle target around -11 LUFS.
A -11 LUFS master is noticeably louder and a bit more forward than -14, with more obvious compression holding it together. It still holds up reasonably well if it ends up on a streaming service, because the platform only turns it down a few dB rather than gutting it. Think of Standard as the sounds-confident-everywhere option. It is not the textbook streaming number, but it is a sensible all-rounder when you do not know exactly where the track will land.
In Bandmixr this is the Standard preset, targeting -11 LUFS. Good for Bandcamp, SoundCloud, direct downloads, and demos you want to feel immediate.
Loud at -8 LUFS, for clubs, demos and anywhere without normalization
There are still places where loud genuinely wins, and they all have one thing in common. No normalization is happening. A club PA plays your file at whatever level it actually is. A DJ loading tracks into a set wants them to sit at a consistent, hot level. A demo blasted off a laptop in a noisy room benefits from sheer volume.
For those, the Loud preset targets -8 LUFS. This is an aggressive master with heavy limiting, and you are knowingly trading some dynamic range for impact. That is the right trade in a club and the wrong trade on Spotify, so be deliberate. If you upload an -8 LUFS master to a streaming service, it gets turned down hard and you lose the dynamics you spent to get there. Use Loud when you know normalization is off the table.
Picking your preset in one click, and where reference matching fits
You do not need a meter or a manual to make this call. When Bandmixr masters your track, you choose one of three named presets: Streaming at -14 LUFS, Standard at -11 LUFS, or Loud at -8 LUFS. Match the name to your destination using the table above and you are done. If you change your mind, regenerate with a different preset and compare.
If you want your master to match the loudness and tonal feel of a specific song you love, reference matching goes a step further. You give it a track you admire and the engine targets that loudness and balance instead of a fixed preset. Reference matching is part of the Creator and Pro plans. See bandmixr.com/pricing for the current details.
One thing the loudness target cannot do is fix a weak mix underneath. If the kick and bass are fighting or the vocal is buried, no LUFS number rescues it. If that is your situation, Mixing vs. Mastering: What's the Difference and Why You Need Both is worth a read before you obsess over loudness.
Ready to hear the difference between -14, -11 and -8 on your own track? Upload your stems or a finished mix at bandmixr.com, pick a preset, and master it in your browser. The first mix is free, so you can A/B all three before you commit.