[MrBouzouki]

I thought I'd post up a graphic showing what SoundCloud Mastering (with Dobly !!!) does to a dynamic track.

I'm at the stage of mastering an orchestral piece entitled Autumn at present. Since it goes from fairly quiet sections with solo woodwind and strings to full on timpani and brass in certain parts then it's quite dynamic. More than most pop songs for sure.

So I thought lets see what happens if I use one of my free mastering slots to do it.

I use a plug-in called Youlean 2 (the Pro version) so you can drop audio files onto it and it will do an analysis easily outside a DAW. This is the result below.

The one on the left is pre-mastered with the true-peak below -1dB.

The one on the right is the Soundcloud 'mastered' version. You can see the true peak is rammed right up against digital clipping 0dB. In fact looking at the waveform it looks like it's been brick-wall limited for the timpani and brass transients.

OK it sounds louder, with a -13.8 LUFS integrated Loudness, so it's in the recognised 'sweet-spot', but I listened to both side by side and adjusted for the same relative volume. Since it's a 32-bit float wave file I can't hear any digital harshness on the transients, but the selected flavour of 'Sunroof at 0%' seems to have managed all the subtle timbres of the instruments and made it sound a bit tinny to my ears.

So in conclusion, it's probably OK for EDM and stuff that is less dynamic, but I'm not sure it works for dynamic tracks. However, if a tracked mastered like this went to streaming sites then I wonder if there isn't enough headroom for their tweaking.

Food for thought perhaps ?

[Boydie]

@MrBouzouki

This is a whole can of worms and the best answer is the fleshy things hanging on each side of your head!

I have definitely found myself mastering slightly differently for “CD” - ie a WAV file that will be distributed - and for streaming sites

Streaming sites will apply limiting anyway so the trick is to ease back on the compression/limiting when mastering for streaming, which will give your track more dynamics (if you want an organic feel) and pre-empt the limiting of the streaming service

But aiming just for the numbers doesn’t tell the whole story - eg if you are assembling an album you may actually WANT a stripped down acoustic song to be perceived as quieter when compared to a full arrangement - and it is VERY easy to get them the same perceived volume by chasing the numbers

IMHO mastering is now as much a part of the artistic/subjective process as production and mixing - it is no longer simply a process to stop the needle of a record player jumping out the grooves at a loud bass section - and nor is it a tool to make everything as loud as possible (90s Loudness Wars)

[cowparsleyman]

@MrBouzouki - I agree with @Boydie, Which mastered version sounds better when listening on the specific platform? that's all that matters.

I've had EDM songs mastered way up there dangerously close to thin red line, but I loved the way they sounded, punchy and raw and conversely acoustic numbers flapping about down at -13 lufs, but both were automatically raised or lowered by the platform's own policy for streaming, a few listens on the platform will tell you if it's being demolished or just lost. One way is to bung it in a playlist of other songs you like by other Artists and see how it sits.

(btw I was a Beta tester for the SoundCloud Mastering feature and to me it sounded all too harsh and uncontrollable, Like Boydie I take a lot of care to get the final master just right, to my ears, and None of the presets that SC came up with made it sound how i wanted it, there is so much one can do to a song with mastering, and that didn't do it for me.)

Hope this helps

[man made material]

This is a subject of great interest to me, I’m struggling to get to grips with it, is there something that needs to be done when mastering for soundcloud?... when mixing a track I make a pout of trying to listen to it in a number of different ways... through the monitors, in the next room through the monitors, through the cans at the desk, then through my phone speaker and air pods... and I come up with a mix I’m happy with, there’s a little compression, no clipping and the sound seems full enough... then upload to soundcloud and my tracks seem noticeably quieter than most other things... are people happily clipping away to get it loud or is there something else? I’m fumbling in the dark a bit and don’t fully understand the issue, you guys seem to know what you’re talking about... is there a simple answer?🥴

[man made material]

I use Reason DAW btw

[pompeyjazz]

I know that a few of us use limiters for loudness. Check out Loudmax and Limiter No 6