Waves Wlm plus

songsj

Member
I'm starting to use the Waves WLM Plus as the last plugin on the master buss in Reaper. I'm using the EUB -R 128 LUFS 18 preset. getting several overs on the short term portion but no overs on the long term readings. I understand why this is happening but I'm wondering how big a deal it is if I'm not hearing distortion. By overs I mean I am hitting 14 or 15 LUFS at times usually on the chorus of the song where more is going on. My wave Dorrough is just before the WLM and I'm not showing overs on it. I'm trying to get consistent volume for all of the songs in my project that will end up on a redbook CD. Will not be pro mastered or sold. Just for my own listening pleasure and for friends and relatives. That said it needs to transfer well to most mediums as people will listen in their cars and their computers with earbuds etc. I'm shooting for similar volumes as a store bought country music CD.
 
Noticed I have 111 views and no responses so I thought I would add to my original post after doing more research. Seems as though the streaming outlets and Youtube are looking for -15 to -13 LUFS depending which one yo are talking about and most store bought CD's of pop, country etc. are mastering at anywhere from -11LUFS all the way to -8 LUFS. Many are of the opinion that if your music is pop or country that a good range is -12LUFS to -8 LUFS depending on the style of music and each song. If a person wants to create more than one master for each outlet I guess that would be the best but is not really necessary because if you are over their standard they are just going to turn it down. One does need to be very careful of the peaks though because if they have to shave those that could change your sound some. Of course depending on other things the outlets may do, the quality of your music may change and usually not for the better but how you handle your master probably won't effect that. So for now unless someone steers me in a different direction I am going to keep my peaks at at least -1db and do my mastering at -12LUFS to -10LUFS probably just under what most store bought CD's of my style are done at. The pro's are experts at squeezing every db out without totally ruining the dynamic feel. That is an art in and of itself and at times also takes some pretty expensive hardware. My ears will determine the final volume tweaks so each song on my CD sounds appropriate and does not require a listener to adjust the volume control on whatever device they are listening on. I realize that through gain staging, eq's, compression, volume maximizers etc. there are several ways to hit the numbers I am shooting for and those ways WILL effect the sound of each song. And I guess that is why everyone can't overstate how important it is to get the mix right before the final mastering stage whether you are mastering yourself of sending it to a professional mastering house. Please feel free to chime in.
 
I'm starting to use the Waves WLM Plus as the last plugin on the master buss in Reaper. I'm using the EUB -R 128 LUFS 18 preset. getting several overs on the short term portion but no overs on the long term readings. I understand why this is happening but I'm wondering how big a deal it is if I'm not hearing distortion. By overs I mean I am hitting 14 or 15 LUFS at times usually on the chorus of the song where more is going on. My wave Dorrough is just before the WLM and I'm not showing overs on it. I'm trying to get consistent volume for all of the songs in my project that will end up on a redbook CD. Will not be pro mastered or sold. Just for my own listening pleasure and for friends and relatives. That said it needs to transfer well to most mediums as people will listen in their cars and their computers with earbuds etc. I'm shooting for similar volumes as a store bought country music CD.

Who cares if you have overs?? Those should only be relative to your long term aggregated target. Don't worry about them. If you're shooting for 18 and achieving 18 long term, what difference does it make?

I don't know how this stuff works in music. In film and video games there's quite a bit of give on the dynamic range. I try to keep mine within 8-10 LUFS of the target unless its a horror film with an excessive amount of jump scares.... then the rules largely don't apply.

Maybe someone who masters music can chime in.
 
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