Thanks for adding the new tag “mix/master tips”, @Sebastian Jautschus! Sebastian and I were chatting on Insta DM the other day about the "Loudness Penalty Analyzer" plugin — he had spotted it in a screenshot from one of my stories (pic attached). If you haven’t used it yet: it’s a super handy little plugin to throw on the end of your mastering chain. It shows whether your track’s loudness is sitting in the “green” zone, and how much each streaming platform will actually turn your song up or down in dB. Here’s a YouTube video that walks through the plugin in detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUO_9KwWBTA MeterPlugs also has a free version online where you can just drop in your finished track and check: https://www.loudnesspenalty.com/

I’m a big fan of a lot of Adam Dodson’s music, and I really learned a lot from the breakdown he did of his Gift to your future self song. So many small details, that are barely noticed when first listening, but really makes a difference to the production. I copied a lot of the tricks to some of my tracks afterwards and they really help make the sound bigger. Like adding a version of the main theme played an octave up or down panned left and right to a verse for instance. Check it here. You’ll definitely learn some good stuff. https://youtu.be/cjBE_NEjO2s?si=yXE2fLbMKRGxonIs