What are dB and LUFS? Loudness for Mixing and Mastering Audio

What are LUFS? If you’ve landed here there is a good chance you already have an idea it is a scale of loudness, or volume. LUFS have become an important unit of measurement to compare audio content to compare loudness. LUFS stands for Loudness Unit Full Scale. Since you may be familiar with dB, know that 1 dB decrease is equal to -1 LUFS measurement.

DB is decibels and measures loudness as well but it is not as a measure of Dynamic Range. So using a tape measure as an analogy, dB measures absolute size of the sound wave at a point, the amplitude, but LUFS describes, the wave maximum is this, the minimum this, and the range between the minimum and maximum is the dynamic range. It is a little more complex mathematical function than that, but you get the idea.

The LUFs unit of measurement  is similar to dB RMS, but is K Weighted and standardized officially in ITU-R BS.1770

dB is also a measure of loudness, but LUFs reading is a measure of loudness, and measures the average loudness, taking in account how humans hear.

• A Quiet Place would be: -28 LUFS  about 20-40 dB
• Regular Conversation about -18 LUFs about 50-80 db
• Loud Traffic -10 LUFs. Diesel Truck at 40 mph at 50 ft away 80 db a Loud Motorcycle car or other machine could be 98 db
• 100db+ is usually loud and possibly painful.
• Rock and Roll Concert: -5 LUFs 110+ dB
• Very Loud Yelling or Guitar Amplifier up close 100+db

How many is Optimal LUFS for Mixing or Mastering?

Cut to the chase: whats the optimum LUFs for Music? Short Answer: about  -12 LUFS.

That is exactly how many LUFS should my track be after mastering my track? It depends, but about -14 to -10 is acceptable, so but don’t sweat it.

Save your mental capacity and allow yourself if you have a mix you like that is outside that range for some reason that you like it could still be fine.

Loudness Normalization Standards Across Platforms Average around -12 LUFS

Here is how you can tell. According to loudness-penalty.net  my -12 LUFS track is ummm perfect. check. it out.

Understanding How many LUFS to make your Mixes

Can it depend? Yes. You can have a great mix that is -10 or a great sound at -14  it just depends on the song, the dynamics, the amount of “blank” space and many other factors. You can use a loudness meter on your master-bus to see how your LUFS are stacking up, and if you’re shooting for a standard of -12 for music and maybe -21 for dialog you should be in good shape.

If you’re mastering for streaming, you can shoot for 8-14 LUFS depending on content. Hip Hop or Rock music may have less dynamics than say an acoustic recording with a lot of loud sections followed by soft sections, or quiet parts at the beginning, end or middle of the song.

Platforms are normalizing their audio, so keeping a consistent result is hard. Use LUFS to master your audio to a good level.

Using Loudness Measurements in Audio Production: A Conclusion

LUFS measures loudness. It is a standard unit for measuring audio loudness or sound intensity. LUFs is similar to RMS dB but it takes more than just a simple average. It is used by audio engineers in the studio, as well as developers and content creators in places like youtube, facebook, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, iTunes, and many more. It ensures that your content falls in to what content platforms deem an acceptable range.