Busting Music Mastering Myths: Bitrate, Sample Rate, and LUFS Levels

Myth #1: "The Higher the Bitrate, the Better the Sound"

It's easy to assume that a higher bitrate automatically means better sound quality. After all, a higher bitrate means more data is used to encode your music.

But the reality is more nuanced than that.

The most impact a higher bit rate has is that it increases the dynamic range that can be stored in a file. Files with a bit rate of 16 bit cut off all sound below -96 dBFS, while files with a bit rate of 24 bit cut off all sound below -144 dBFS.

In other words: The higher the bit rate, the quieter your music can be without being cut off.

What Should You Do?

A bit rate of 16 bit is still good enough for most music. If in doubt, use the bitrate that matches your platform's requirements. 

For example, if you’re preparing music for streaming platforms, stick to what your distributor recommends and avoid pushing the limits unnecessarily. If your file has a bit rate of 16 bits and it sounds good to you, this is really all you need

Myth #2: "The Higher the Sample Rate, the Better"

While bit rate determines the precision with which your music is stored, the sample rate determines how often those bits are used to reproduce one second of audio.

It's denoted in Hz (Hertz), and you'll often hear that higher sample rates, like 96kHz or even 192kHz, are better than the conventional 44.1kHz.

The truth is that scientifically speaking, the only effect a higher sample rate has is that it allows for higher frequencies to be stored. While the highest frequency a file sampled at 44.1kHz can reproduce is 22,050Hz, a file with 192kHz can store frequencies up to 96,000Hz. 

The catch: we humans can only hear up to 20,000Hz, so none of the extra data is actually audible for us!

So: why do higher sample rates exist?

In mastering, higher sample rates may be used to catch so-called inter-sample peaks. But in most cases, there is no real-world benefit to using higher sample rates.

In fact, using high sample rates can pose a risk if your music is later downsampled to a lower sample rate, because downsampling introduces artifacts. Additionally, higher sample rates quickly produce much bigger file sizes, which make your workflows unnecessarily complicated.

What Should You Do?

Stick to a sample rate of 44.1kHz or 48 kHz for your projects unless you're working in a specialized setting. Working at higher sample rates can cause more harm than good.

Myth #3: "LUFS Should Always Be -14 dBFS"

LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale) is a measurement for the perceived loudness of a track, and you’ve probably heard that your track should always sit at around -14 LUFS for platforms like Spotify. But is this actually true?

What is true is that streaming platforms like Spotify normalize all tracks to the same overall loudness level. This is done so that listeners can smoothly switch between songs without having to adjust the volume between quieter and louder tracks.

A common misconception is that tracks that are louder before normalization will therefore sound quieter after normalization on Spotify. This is not true; it only means that in the worst case, tracks that sounded louder before normalization will sound only as loud as quieter tracks after normalization (with potentially flatter dynamics). This does not mean you should use that loudness level as your loudness target when producing music, either.

In order to understand this, it’s important to distinguish between the short-term loudness of parts of your track, and the long-term overall loudness of your track. The short-term loudness indicates how loud a shorter section of a track sounds to the listener at the current moment in time, while the long-term loudness is a loudness average over a longer time period.

For example, if you have a radio and extended version of your mix as in this screenshot, you want the drop/chorus to have the same loudness and dynamics in both versions, because they are usually identical. However, due to the added sections of the extended mix, this might cause the overall averaged loudness of both tracks to be different. For instance, if you mix both the radio and extended version of your track so that the chorus sits at -10 LUFS, the integrated loudness of the radio version might be -14 LUFS, while the integrated loudness of the extended version is only -16 LUFS. This is completely fine and to be expected! What you shouldn’t do, on the other hand, is mix the extended track louder so it also has an integrated loudness of -14 LUFS. Because then, the choruses of the extended track will be louder than in the radio version, causing them to sound different.

This is why engineers usually don’t consider the overall loudness of a track, but instead look at the short-term loudness of the loudest part in a song. If that sits at around -9 to -10 LUFS, then your track usually has the dynamics your listeners are used to.

Another important aspect here is that different types of music usually come with different dynamic expectations. Hip Hop, for example, has always been louder and more compressed than Jazz. On top of that, each streaming platform has their own set of rules, combined with settings the listener might have tweaked. This makes it impossible and not advisable to blindly chase a certain number.

What Should You Do?

If you want to check your loudness, look at the loudest parts of your track. Don’t chase an overall loudness target for your music, because it simply doesn’t make sense and results in worse-sounding releases.

In Conclusion: Quality Over Numbers

When it comes to releasing music, the goal should always be that no technical details stand in the way of your music. The myths around bitrate, sample rate, and LUFS are based on misunderstandings or oversimplifications of how audio actually works. Rather than focusing on numbers, it’s more important to understand the context of each element:

●      Use bitrates that match the requirements of your distribution platform.

●      Stick to common sample rates like 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz unless you have a specific need.

●      Focus on achieving dynamics that suit your music rather than obsessing over LUFS levels.

 By focusing on your music instead of chasing numbers, while still making sure you meet the basic requirements, you’ll be in a great position to release your music with confidence and clarity!