Track not as loud as others?

We use loudness normalization to balance soft and loud songs for a more consistent listening experience across all playback types, including lossless audio.

We adjust all tracks to a default loudness level of -14 dB LUFS, according to the ITU 1770 standard.

Here are some reasons why your music might sound quieter than other artists, or different to how you expected:

• A very dynamic track mastered to -14dB LUFS keeps its peak levels intact. In comparison, a loudly mastered track (e.g., at - 6dB LUFS) is reduced in volume. Both play at the same perceived loudness level, but the dynamic track's peaks may feel louder in contrast.
• If you shuffle your album or switch between tracks from different albums (like in a playlist), track-level normalization is applied instead of album-level normalization.
• Inaudible high-frequencies in your mix can cause loudness algorithm to overestimate the perceived loudness, because ITU 1770 doesn't apply a lowpass filter.
• Very loud masters with true peaks above -2 dB can introduce distortion during encoding, which can increase perceived loudness — but not necessarily improve quality.
• On non-linear playback systems (like speakers that emphasize certain frequencies), tracks with more energy in those boosted ranges may sound louder.

Note: These behaviors apply to all listeners, whether they’re hearing a compressed or lossless version of your track. We handle format optimization internally, so you only need to deliver one high-quality stereo master.