[JasonHiller]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Maybe this has been done before, please let me know if you know!</p>
I would like to upload an album (Through Distrokid because I have an account) that is 10 (or 6 or 8 or 12 or whatever) identical mixes of the same song with different mastering levels. One could be blasted over zero to plus 1 or more, one peaking at zero but not going over, one at -1, -3, -5, etc etc and see how the different streamers deal with it. Maybe do some at 96/24, some at 44.1/16 or anything else. Does anyone find that intriguing or has it been done before?

[Phil Koenig]

I suppose it could be an interesting experiment.

If the streaming is lossless, it should be equivalent to just playing the file [unless the streaming site imposes a limiter on maximum peak levels).

For lossy encoders, there is a plugin out there that lets you hear various lossy encoders (MP3, OGG, etc.) right in your DAW.

Since perceived loudness is only indirectly related to peak level (as transformed by crest factor and a few other considerations), it makes sense to manage peak and LUFS levels to fit in the available dynamic range of the medium and the dynamics of the music itself.

Personally I keep peaks on master mixes at around -1.5 dBFS TP, which is conservative, but has never caused any clipping with a lossy encoder I’ve tried.  A separate concern is listener perceived loudness, which is most accurately measured by LUFS values.

I typically have masters between -13 and -15 LUFS-I, under the theory that it’s better to listener turn you up because they want to hear you, rather than turn you down because they find you annoying or overpowering.

[JasonHiller]

Well maybe to make the experiment a bit more scientific and avoid the possible perception issues it could be tones or white noise or some such thing at different levels that could be analyzed.

[Phil Koenig]

Let us know how that goes.