Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Rob Richards
How loud should a mix be before mastering?
There is no magic number, but there is a right answer: leave headroom, skip the limiter, and keep the songs of a release consistent with each other. Here is what mastering engineers actually want from a mix, and a fast way to get a whole album there.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Rob Richards
Streaming platform loudness targets in 2026: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, TIDAL, Amazon Music and SoundCloud
One table with the loudness level each major streaming service normalizes to, whether it turns quiet tracks up, how it handles albums, and where each number comes from. Checked against the platforms’ own documentation and kept current.
Monday, October 12, 2026
Rob Richards
True bit depth, including 16-in-24 padding
The file header says 24-bit. AMIE checks whether the audio inside actually is.
Monday, October 12, 2026
Rob Richards
Sample-rate conversion that adds nothing to your audio
Convert between 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96 kHz, at 16- or 24-bit or 32-bit float, with proof that the result is clean.