Stop chasing loudness — you're killing your mix

Mastering engineer for 14 years. The brutal truth: 90% of 'why isn't my master loud enough' threads should actually be 'why is my mix bus a mess'. You can't out-limit a muddy low end. The chain that actually works: 1. Soft-clip the drum transients first — 1–2 dB. This is what gives you headroom for free. 2. Transparent limiter (Pro-L 2, Newfangled Elevate, Ozone Maximizer): 2–3 dB GR. 3. Finishing limiter: the last 1–2 dB. Total of 5–6 dB GR distributed across three stages. One limiter doing 6 dB sounds crushed. Three doing 2 dB each sounds loud and alive. But before any of that — go back to the mix and tame uncontrolled 40–80 Hz. Clean low end limits 3 dB louder for free, no plugin required. Most 'distorted masters' aren't a mastering problem at all.

Honest take: stop competing with major-label loudness. Spotify, Apple, YouTube all normalize. A -8 LUFS master and a -12 LUFS master play back at roughly the same perceived level on streaming. The -12 master keeps its punch. The -8 doesn't. Loudness wars ended in 2014; nobody told the bedroom producers.