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SoundCloud & Bandcamp LUFS: The One Target

By Scott Young

The Problem

You finished a track. It sounds great in your room. Now you need to export it for three different platforms, and each one seems to have different rules about loudness. Do you master once and upload everywhere? Or do you bounce three versions?

The short answer: master once, target -14 LUFS integrated, and you're covered everywhere. Here's why.

SoundCloud and Bandcamp LUFS at a Glance

  • SoundCloud: aim for -14 LUFS integrated with true peak below -1 dBTP. If your master is louder than -14, keep true peak below -2 dBTP. SoundCloud normalizes loudness on playback.
  • Bandcamp: no recommended LUFS level. Its encoding leaves your audio unchanged, so the level is up to you. -14 LUFS is still a sensible target.
  • Spotify: normalizes to about -14 LUFS with a -1 dB true-peak ceiling.

What Each Platform Actually Does

Spotify

Spotify normalizes playback to approximately -14 LUFS integrated with a -1 dB true-peak ceiling. If your track arrives louder than -14, Spotify turns it down. If it arrives quieter, Spotify does not turn it up.

This is the part most people miss. A track mastered to -8 LUFS doesn't sound louder on Spotify - it sounds the same as a -14 LUFS master, except with less dynamic range because you crushed it for nothing.

Spotify offers a "Loud" normalization setting that targets around -11 LUFS, but it's off by default and most listeners never touch it.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud normalizes loudness on playback - its help centre says so directly. It doesn't publish the exact playback level, but it does publish mastering guidance: aim for -14 LUFS integrated with true peak below -1 dBTP. If your master is louder than -14, keep true peak below -2 dBTP, because louder files pick up extra distortion when SoundCloud converts them to its streaming formats (Ogg Vorbis and AAC).

So a -8 LUFS master doesn't win on SoundCloud either. It gets turned down on playback like everywhere else, and it's more likely to come out distorted.

The fix isn't to master hotter for SoundCloud. It's to master to -14 LUFS - which is exactly what SoundCloud recommends.

Bandcamp

Bandcamp has no recommended LUFS level. Its encoding leaves your audio unchanged, so your file keeps the level it was mastered at. The web player does play slightly quieter by default, but that doesn't affect downloaded files. No normalization is applied to your file.

Bandcamp also lets listeners download the original file, which means the mastering quality matters more here - there's no platform processing to hide behind. A clean -14 LUFS master with good dynamic range sounds better on Bandcamp than a clipped -6 LUFS brickwall, because the listener hears exactly what you made.

The One-Target Approach

Here's the math that makes this simple:

  • Spotify plays at -14 LUFS. Master to -14, it plays at unity. No gain change.
  • SoundCloud normalizes playback and recommends -14 LUFS with peaks below -1 dBTP. Same target.
  • Bandcamp plays at whatever you upload. -14 LUFS with good dynamics sounds better than a crushed master when listeners download and play on their own system.

You don't need three masters. You need one good master at -14 LUFS integrated with a -1 dB true-peak ceiling. Upload that everywhere.

When to Deviate

There are legitimate reasons to master louder or quieter than -14 LUFS:

  • Club tracks (-8 to -6 LUFS): If the track is specifically for DJ play and will be played on a club system, hotter mastering makes sense. The dynamic range loss is acceptable because club PA systems add their own compression. Just know it'll get turned down on Spotify and SoundCloud - and on SoundCloud, keep its true peak below -2 dBTP.
  • Ambient / generative (-18 to -22 LUFS): Quiet material that's supposed to breathe. Forcing it to -14 would destroy the dynamic character. Spotify won't turn it up, but the people listening to ambient aren't comparing loudness with techno.
  • Mastering for vinyl: A separate process entirely. The cutting engineer has their own loudness and peak requirements. Give them the premaster, not the streaming master.

True Peak Matters More Than You Think

Every platform that normalizes also applies a true-peak ceiling. Spotify uses -1 dBTP. If your master has inter-sample peaks above that, the platform's limiter catches them - and you have no control over how it sounds.

A proper true-peak limiter in your mastering chain keeps you in control. Set the ceiling to -1 dBTP and you'll never get caught by platform processing.

What About Loudness Penalty Websites?

You've probably seen sites that tell you "your track will be turned down by X dB on Spotify." These are useful for understanding what normalization does, but they miss the point: being turned down isn't a penalty. It's normalization working as intended. A -8 LUFS master and a -14 LUFS master sound the same on Spotify - the difference is that the -8 LUFS version has less dynamic range for no benefit.

Master for the music, not for the meter.

The Practical Chain

If you're mastering for all three platforms with one export:

  1. Target: -14 LUFS integrated
  2. True peak ceiling: -1 dBTP
  3. Format: WAV or FLAC at 24-bit (upload this to all three)
  4. Check: A/B the master against a reference track you know is well-mastered at -14 LUFS

If you're doing this manually in your DAW, that's a chain of EQ, light compression, loudness metering, and true-peak limiting. If you want to see every move before you commit, tools like Acetate handle this automatically - genre-aware processing with full transparency on every decision.

The Bottom Line

Master once to -14 LUFS with a -1 dB ceiling. Upload that file to Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and Spotify. The only reason to deviate is artistic intent - louder for club tracks, quieter for ambient. Not because a platform told you to.

Try Acetate free - one master, no signup

Want to check where your mix stands? Free DJ mix analyzer - instant LUFS and true peak readings, no upload.

Hitting the target is step one - master the whole mix with Acetate and it lands the loudness while fixing each transition.