The loudness war is over, and we lost
A short take on why streaming loudness normalization has not fixed the music, and what we are doing on the master bus instead.
In 2026 every major streaming service normalizes loudness to roughly -14 LUFS. So why does every demo we get still sound crushed?
The trick that didn't go away
A short attack, high ratio bus compressor still gives the impression of loudness at any output level. The streaming target measures sustained energy, not perceived punch. The trick is: still legal, still useful, still everywhere.
Bus chain (what we ship):
HPF @ 30Hz
Glue compressor (2:1, 10ms attack, 120ms release)
Soft clipper
Limiter (true peak -1dBTP)
Target: -14 LUFS integrated, -1 dBTP