Question about Ozone mastering

[Nani]

Hi, I have a song that I mastered with Ozone Elements and it sounds great, the RMS in Ozone says around -5. I just upgraded to Ozone Standard (thanks Splice Rent to to Own!) and I'm mastering the same song with it, now I cant reach the same volume level, but the RMS says -3!, how is that possible, it should be louder according with the RMS number but it is not. Any advice?

[chaosroyale]

Use a 3rd party loudness meter after the maximizers, this way you can be sure the loudness measurement is neutral, and A/B your maximizers fairly.

I would recommend youlean loudness meter- I use this all the time in preference to paid plugins. https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/

More to the point: the loudness wars are pretty much over. Online services will normalize to approx: -12LUFS regardless of how high your RMS value is, so I would encourage you to forget about clipping off those transients and get back to concentrating on a more dynamic and exciting mix.

[Nani]

Thank you chaosroyale, I will check the youlean loudness meter, the reason I want my music loud is because I upload all my music to soundcloud, and when I listen to other music it sounds louder than mine, so I wanted to replicate those "pro" levels, I think Soundcloud does not normalize songs...yet, but you are right, I will concentrate in getting more dynamics in my future mixes

[chaosroyale]

You can always make 2 masters- a "loud" (in actuality, limited) version for soundcloud, and a "hi definition" version for spotify, itunes, youtube and so on.

If you are getting used to mixing and mastering, a good trick with a loudness meter is to A/B a 4-bar loop from a reference track you like the sound of (download from Soundcloud or whatever). Turn the volume *down* on the reference, so that the loudness is about -12 LUFS. Mix your own track to this loudness, not to the "maximized" loudness, with peaks kept under control (nothing over 0dB, use compressors liberally on your tracks, but do not completely crush the transients). You will notice that your track (if mixed properly) will have the same "loudness" as the reference but be more punchy and dynamic. Use this as the "original pre-master" for exporting in various forms.

For exporting to soundcloud, run the maximizer inserts, and A/B it again with the reference track at its original (clipped) volume. Gradually push up your maximized track until it's close enough.