You bounced your master at -6 dBTP, it's slamming at -8 LUFS, and it sounds loud in your DAW. Then you upload to Spotify and it sounds quieter than a lo-fi playlist track recorded on a laptop mic.

Here's what's actually happening — and how to fix it in under 3 minutes.

The Problem: Normalization

Spotify normalizes all tracks to approximately -14 LUFS integrated. If your master is hotter than -14, Spotify turns it down. Not with a limiter — just pure volume reduction.

The result: your track loses loudness, but keeps all the distortion, squashed transients, and pumping artifacts you baked in trying to get it loud. You get the worst of both worlds.

The Math

Say your master sits at -8 LUFS. Spotify applies roughly -6 dB of gain reduction to bring it in line. That's the same as cutting your fader by 6 dB. Your track is now quieter and more distorted than if you'd just mastered to -14 in the first place.

The 3-Minute Fix

1. Pull your limiter ceiling back. Set your true peak ceiling to -1.0 dBTP (not 0, not -0.1 — Apple requires -1 dBTP and it's a safe universal target).

1. Aim for -13 to -14 LUFS integrated. Not -14 exactly — give yourself a 1 LUFS window. Use an integrated loudness meter (not peak, not RMS).

1. A/B against a reference on Spotify. Pick a commercially mastered track in your genre, match your integrated loudness to theirs, and compare. If your transients feel alive and the vocal sits forward, you're there.

That's it. No magic plugins. No $500 mastering chains. Just correct target levels and a real meter.

Platform Cheat Sheet

The full breakdown — including short-term vs momentary LUFS, codec-aware limiting, and platform-specific delivery workflows — is inside the LoudLab course.