Nothing screams "amateur" louder than... being too quiet. If a listener has to crank their car stereo volume to 30 just to hear you, and then gets their eardrums blown out by a notification or the next song, they will unsubscribe. Inconsistent volume levels are a user experience nightmare. Today, Mark demystifies "LUFS" (Loudness Units Full Scale), the global industry standard for audio loudness. We explain why mixing "by ear" is dangerous, the difference between "Peak" and "Loudness," and the exact tools you need to hit the target of -16 LUFS every single time.

Show Notes

The "Car Test" Failure:

Why podcasts often disappear when competing with road noise.

The listener frustration of constantly adjusting volume between different shows.

Defining LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale):

Peak Volume: Measures the loudest millisecond (irrelevant for perceived loudness).

Integrated Loudness: Measures the average energy over the entire episode (crucial for consistency).

The Magic Numbers:

Stereo Podcasts: Target -16 LUFS.

Mono Podcasts: Target -19 LUFS.

Tools of the Trade:

Manual: Using loudness meters in DAWs like Reaper, Audacity, or Hindenburg.

Automated: The "Cheat Code" of using Auphonic or Adobe Audition Match Loudness.

The "Set and Forget" Workflow:

Why you should apply loudness normalization as the very last step in your production chain, after all EQ and compression.

Mark at onpodium.com

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