22/10/2025
🔊Average Volume
Average volume is the overall loudness of a track over time — it’s what our ears actually hear as “how loud” something sounds, rather than just how high its peaks go.
There are two main ways to measure it:
🎚️ RMS (Root Mean Square) — older, electrical-style measurement, but still relevant
🎚️ LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale) — newer, human-hearing-based measurement, usually used by streaming platforms (e.g YouTube, Spotify, Audiomack)
1️⃣RMS
RMS measures the average power (energy) of an audio signal over time.
It’s like calculating the “middle strength” between loud and quiet moments.
RMS is expressed in dBFS (like peak levels).
A higher RMS = louder perceived volume.
✅Example:
Let’s say two tracks both peak at –1 dBFS:
➡️Track A → RMS = –14 dBFS → Balanced and dynamic.
➡️Track B → RMS = –8 dBFS → Much louder, more compressed.
🎖️That difference comes from compression or limiting — which reduces dynamic range and raises the average loudness.
🎯Tip:
For a mix, aim for –16 to –12 dB RMS.
For mastering, you can go up to –10 or –8 dB RMS, depending on genre.
2️⃣LUFS
LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale) is the modern standard that measures perceived loudness according to how human ears actually hear frequencies and dynamics.
🎧It’s more accurate than RMS because it clearly measures sound in:
✅Frequency weighting (we hear mids more easily than lows or highs)
✅Time integration (short vs long-term loudness)
🎧LUFS Types:
➡️Momentary (LUFS-M): short-term (400 ms window)
➡️Short-Term (LUFS-S): averaged over 3 seconds
➡️Integrated (LUFS-I): entire song’s average loudness (used by streaming services)
🎖️How to Achieve Good Average Volume
1️⃣Get a Balanced Mix
✔️Set levels so every instrument is clearly heard.
✔️Don’t chase loudness during mixing — just clarity and space.
2️⃣Control Dynamics
✔️Use compression to make sounds more consistent:
✔️Light compression on vocals and drums (2–4 dB gain reduction).
✔️Use bus compression (g
