What’s on the Loudness & Mastering poster
A 5-row table: Platform · Target · Effect.
LUFS measures perceived loudness over time. Platforms normalise to a target.
- Spotify — −14 LUFS — Louder masters turned down
- Apple Music — −16 LUFS — Turned down further
- YouTube — −14 LUFS — Turned down
- Tidal — −14 LUFS — Turned down
- CD / offline — no target — Loudness still audible
A master at −8 LUFS is turned down to match one at −14, but keeps its squashed dynamics. It ends up quieter AND flatter.
Questions about the Loudness & Mastering poster
- What’s on the Loudness & Mastering poster?
- A 5-row table: Platform · Target · Effect. LUFS measures perceived loudness over time. Platforms normalise to a target. Spotify — −14 LUFS — Louder masters turned down; Apple Music — −16 LUFS — Turned down further; YouTube — −14 LUFS — Turned down; Tidal — −14 LUFS — Turned down; CD / offline — no target — Loudness still audible. A master at −8 LUFS is turned down to match one at −14, but keeps its squashed dynamics. It ends up quieter AND flatter.
- Who is the Loudness & Mastering poster for?
- Loudness & Mastering belongs to the Music section rather than to a school year, because music is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning production can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Loudness & Mastering poster?
- Master for dynamics, not for level. Streaming turns everything down to the same loudness anyway. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Loudness & Mastering belongs on the wall where that music work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Loudness & Mastering?
- Audio File Formats, Compression and DAW Basics sit alongside Loudness & Mastering in the Music section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Audio File FormatsCompressionDAW Basics
- Is the Loudness & Mastering poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Loudness & Mastering downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Music section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Loudness & Mastering poster print at?
- Loudness & Mastering is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Loudness & Mastering loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Loudness & Mastering on the same wall.
Browse every Music poster, or start from the full catalogue.