Music & Audio Advice Mixing and Mastering Principles 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does LUFS measure in mastering?
- Peak sample level
- Perceived integrated loudness (Correct answer)
- Stereo width
- Frequency response
Correct answer: Perceived integrated loudness
LUFS quantifies perceived loudness over time, the standard for streaming loudness normalization.
Question 2: A streaming platform normalizes to around -14 LUFS. What happens to a master delivered much louder than that?
- It plays louder than everything else
- It gets turned down, often losing dynamics for no loudness gain (Correct answer)
- It is rejected
- It gains bass
Correct answer: It gets turned down, often losing dynamics for no loudness gain
Over-loud masters are turned down to match the target, so excessive limiting just sacrifices dynamics.
Question 3: What is the purpose of a brickwall limiter on the master bus?
- Add reverb
- Prevent the signal from exceeding a set ceiling to avoid clipping (Correct answer)
- Widen the stereo image
- Remove vocals
Correct answer: Prevent the signal from exceeding a set ceiling to avoid clipping
A brickwall limiter caps peaks at a ceiling (e.g., -1 dBTP) so the output never clips.
Question 4: Why set the limiter ceiling to about -1 dBTP instead of 0 dBFS?
- To make it quieter for radio
- To leave headroom for inter-sample peaks and lossy codec conversion (Correct answer)
- To boost the bass
- It has no effect
Correct answer: To leave headroom for inter-sample peaks and lossy codec conversion
True-peak headroom prevents distortion from inter-sample peaks introduced by MP3/AAC encoding.
Question 5: What does a reference track help you achieve during mastering?
- A target for tonal balance and loudness to compare your master against (Correct answer)
- Faster rendering
- Automatic mixing
- Lower CPU usage
Correct answer: A target for tonal balance and loudness to compare your master against
Comparing to a professionally finished track keeps your tonal balance and loudness in a competitive range.
Question 6: Which processor is commonly used to control low-end and add cohesion across the whole mix during mastering?
- A noise gate
- Multiband compression (Correct answer)
- A pitch corrector
- A guitar amp sim
Correct answer: Multiband compression
Multiband compression lets you tame specific frequency bands (like boomy low-end) without affecting the rest.
Question 7: Why is mono compatibility checked during mastering?
- To ensure the mix still sounds full when summed to mono on phones, club PAs, etc. (Correct answer)
- To make it louder
- To remove the vocal
- To add stereo width
Correct answer: To ensure the mix still sounds full when summed to mono on phones, club PAs, etc.
Phase issues from excessive stereo widening can cause elements to disappear when summed to mono.
Music & Audio Advice Mixing and Mastering Principles 3
What does LUFS measure in mastering?