Music Production
Measure your track’s integrated loudness and peak headroom for precise mastering.
Ensure perfect balance between loudness and headroom for streaming.
Track loudness is measured in LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale), a perceptually accurate standard adopted by streaming platforms. True Peak measures the actual highest point in your audio waveform, essential for digital clipping prevention. This calculator bridges loudness and dynamics: given your current LUFS and True Peak, it calculates how much gain to apply for your target loudness, then estimates the resulting True Peak. Professional mastering requires both metrics—streaming platforms reject tracks above -1 dBTP True Peak.
The calculator takes three inputs: current LUFS, current True Peak (in dBFS), and target LUFS. It computes required gain as the difference between target and current LUFS. Then it applies that same gain to the current True Peak to estimate the new True Peak value. This linear relationship assumes consistent dynamic range. The tool validates that all inputs stay within realistic mastering ranges (-60 to 0 dBFS).
Required Gain (dB) = Target LUFS - Current LUFS. Estimated New Peak = Current Peak + Required Gain. Both expressed in dB, allowing simple addition. No log conversion needed since both measurements use dB scale.
dB measures signal level; LUFS measures perceived loudness considering human hearing. LUFS weighting makes quiet frequencies (bass, very high treble) count less than midrange where ears are most sensitive. Streaming platforms use LUFS, not raw dB.
Technically yes—hardware clipping happens at 0 dBFS. But streaming platforms reject tracks above -1 dBTP, and loudness normalization algorithms may penalize hot peaks. Stay within -1 to -3 dBTP for safety and compliance.
This calculator assumes the gain adjustment affects peak linearly. If your mix has extreme dynamic range or transient peaks far above the RMS level, the estimate may differ. Use a limiter to control True Peak independently from average loudness.
No. Streaming platforms normalize to their target, so being 0.5 LUFS loud or quiet doesn't matter. What matters is clear, dynamic audio without clipping. Loudness matching is automatic; focus on mix quality first.
