The LUFS Target That Gets Your Track Accepted by Spotify
You spent 200 credits, locked the BPM, and finally hit "Download." Your track sounds great in your headphones. But when you upload it to a streaming service, it feels small, distorted, or significantly quieter than the songs on either side of it.
Welcome to the Loudness Penalty.
As of January 2026, streaming platforms have reached a consensus on "Loudness Normalization." If your track is too loud, they will squash it with a limiter, ruining your dynamics. If it’s too quiet, they’ll boost it, bringing out those nasty AI artifacts and "spectral hiss."
To get your Suno tracks radio-ready, you have to master for the Targets.
The Technical Reality of Suno Audio
By default, Suno v5 outputs audio that is "pushed" quite hard. It’s loud, compressed, and has a very high peak level. While this sounds exciting in the web app, it’s a nightmare for distribution. Furthermore, Suno’s raw files often carry "low-mid mud" (the 200–400Hz range) that eats up your headroom.
The 3-Step Professional Polish
In Chapter 9 of Unlock Suno: Studio Edition, we teach you the "Lossless-Ready" workflow. Here is the quick-start version to get you through your next release:
Step 1: The "De-Mud" EQ Open your track in your DAW. Apply an EQ and find the 200Hz to 400Hz range. Apply a gentle "bell" cut of 2–3 dB. This removes the "boxiness" common in AI audio and creates "headroom"—space for the track to actually breathe.
Step 2: The Glue Compressor AI stems can sometimes feel sonically disconnected. Apply a compressor with a light 2:1 ratio and a slow attack. This "glues" the transients together, making the AI-generated drums and vocals feel like they were recorded in the same room.
Step 3: Target the LUFS Don't guess. Use a free loudness meter (like Youlean Loudness Meter) to measure your Integrated LUFS.
Spotify / YouTube Target: -14 LUFS
Apple Music Target: -16 LUFS
The "True Peak" Rule: Set your limiter ceiling to -1.0 dBTP. This ensures that when the platform converts your file to an MP3 or Ogg Vorbis, it won't clip and distort.
Why "Louder" Isn't Better
If you push your Suno track to -8 LUFS (common in modern EDM), Spotify will turn it down by 6 decibels. Because their algorithm isn't as musical as a human mastering engineer, your track will lose its "punch" and sound flat. By mastering to -14 LUFS, you retain control over how your music is heard.
Master the Audio Analyst Workflow
Mastering is the final 5% that makes the other 95% work. In Chapter 9, we go beyond simple volume, covering:
Spectral Analysis: Removing the "steel pipe" metallic artifacts.
Vocal De-Essing: Smoothing out the harsh "S" and "T" sounds in AI singers.
iZotope RX Cleanup: Using the industry-standard toolkit to "paint out" digital clicks.
Stop uploading "Demos." Start distributing "Masters."
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