let's share LUFS and dynamic range Waves WLM Plus

[Plugintester]

Let us share LUFS and dynamic range of songs and different genres. I used Waves WLM Plus for LUFS of CD WAV files. Sorted by year of release.

Released / Song by/ LUFS/Dyn range
1959 So what Miles Davis -15.2/11.8
1973 If you want me to stay Sly Stone -17.0/14.1
1976 Isn't she lovely Stevie Wonder -11.3/10.7
1982 Africa Toto -19/15.1
1984 Smooth Operator Sade -13.4/10.8
1984 Fresh Kool and the Gang -15.4/13.0
1984 I feel for you Chaka Khan -11.4/10.2
1985 This is not America David Bowie -15.0/13.6
1986 Kiss Prince -15.2/12.7
1986 Land of Confusion Genesis -16.2/13.2
1986 Absolute Beginners David Bowie -12.8/11.3
1991 Always on the run Lenny Kravitz -12.2/10.7
1991 It ain't over 'til it's over L. Kravitz -13.0/10.7
1995 Gold Prince -7.2/5.6
1999 Still D.R.E. Dr. Dre -9.1/7.5
2000 Rock wit u Alicia Keys -11.2/8.4

Best mix (sound quality, balance) imo is Fresh by Kool and the Gang followed by Kiss and Smooth Operator. 70ies Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone are great, too.
Dr. Dre snare drum is too loud, Alicia Keys tambourine too harsh, Toto and Genesis too dull.
Prince Gold experience album was mixed by engineers who had never worked for Prince;
they seemed to try winning loudness war and spoilt many songs. Best quality is when Prince mixed by himself imo.

Dynamic range higher than 10 and LUFS value lower than 10 I mostly like (I tested about 50 different songs).
"Fresh" has a dynamic range of 13.0 and LUFS -15.4 and the peak level is -1.3 dB (in most cases peak is at -0.1). This shows that loudness was not the most important thing, but a good and balanced mix quality.

Maybe you could add some more songs and genres and also newer productions.

[The Noodlist]

I've also wondered, if a stereo mix down with a good dynamic range, was then limited more, would the relationship/ratio between soft and loud be slightly maintained?

[crickey13]

1995 Gold Prince -7.2/5.6

[Plugintester]

1995 Gold Prince -7.2/5.6

The worst mixing engineers Prince ever had imo There is another song called"Shhh" on the album, it's one of my fav songs live, unfortunately it's completely overcompressed and loud on the album.
Maybe it was the mastering engineers fault, too,
his name is Brian Gardner (Trident Studio, London and subsequently operating at Bernie Grundman Mastering).
Dr. Dre gave him the nickname "Big Bass", well Dre is known for having very very loud mixes.
Prince's first albums show what a good mixing engineer Prince was, but later Peggy Mac at Sunset Sound Studio in LA and Susan Rogers at Paisley Park also did a pretty decent job.
Of course LUFS value generally depends on music genre and song itself and listening behavior also changes, but louder definitely very often means worse, that's what I ve found out.

[trmupstage]

I've done a lot of that comparison. There are many big name recordings coming out at -6 or even -5 LUFS. It takes all the life out of a track, but it had been a very popular trend and some people like that hyper-compressed in your face non-stop sound. I wish there was a standard that everyone could agree to and use. I know streaming services have their own way of dealing with it but you never are quite sure how the will penalize you. I got PA Streamliner to do some checks as well, but have not had much time to dive into it.

[Plugintester]

I add five successful and popular songs
1971 What's going on Marvin Gaye -12/10.8
1971 Mercy Mercy Me M.Gaye -12.7/10.9
1982 1999 Prince -14.3/12.7
1982 Billie Jean M.Jackson -10.4/8.1
1984 When doves cry Prince -15.5/13.8

After my LUFS experiment or test I am very impressed by the mix quality of Motown, whether it's Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye or..., sounds incredibly good.
When I was listening to some 80ies mixes, I noticed that Billie Jean has pretty much high end, the bass especially at the beginning is pretty loud and the shaker too upfront and dominant imo
My opinion of course does not change the fact that it was a successful song and Bruce Swedien considered a good engineer

[The Noodlist]

An average dynamic range of between 12 ±2 seems like a decent target.
I wonder if it's worth measuring the DR on individual tracks and buses?

[Leo1999]

An average dynamic range of between 12 ±2 seems like a decent target.
I wonder if it's worth measuring the DR on individual tracks and buses?

I do not think a track or bus will tell you about the DR of a mix.
It would be nice to have some values of newer mixes, too, to see whether values have changed.

[The Noodlist]

An average dynamic range of between 12 ±2 seems like a decent target.
I wonder if it's worth measuring the DR on individual tracks and buses?

I do not think a track or bus will tell you about the DR of a mix.
It would be nice to have some values of newer mixes, too, to see whether values have changed.

Yeah, I understand that. I was referring to my own stuff and hobbyists in general. Like mixing stems.

[Plugintester]

I was curious as to the values of one of my fav songs
"Shhh" by Prince
LUFS 8,1 DR 5.7, it has a lot of drum breaks with lots of energy, but verses are rather smooth.
Well, the album version is completely overcompressed and peaks at +-0.
I prefer his live performances, the drums are simply dope. It's Nona Gaye in the video, Marvin Gaye's daughter btw


album version


it's generally LUFS -14 on YouTube afaik

[DCrown]

I was curious as to the values of one of my fav songs
"Shhh" by Prince
LUFS 8,1 DR 5.7, it has a lot of drum breaks with lots of energy, but verses are rather smooth.
Well, the album version is completely overcompressed and peaks at +-0.
I prefer his live performances, the drums are simply dope. It's Nona Gaye in the video, Marvin Gaye's daughter btw

Drums are indeed awesome, guitar and bass player is dope, as well, who is he?

[Plugintester]

I was curious as to the values of one of my fav songs
"Shhh" by Prince
LUFS 8,1 DR 5.7, it has a lot of drum breaks with lots of energy, but verses are rather smooth.
Well, the album version is completely overcompressed and peaks at +-0.
I prefer his live performances, the drums are simply dope. It's Nona Gaye in the video, Marvin Gaye's daughter btw

Drums are indeed awesome, guitar and bass player is dope, as well, who is he?

It is Sonny T a multi instrumentalist and also great singer. Now he is in the band of Cory Wong

[Plugintester]

does anyone have values of modern music productions? I mostly listen to music on YouTube now, so I do not have any mp3 or WAV files

[The Noodlist]

does anyone have values of modern music productions? I mostly listen to music on YouTube now, so I do not have any mp3 or WAV files

Some readings can be found online.
Kirsty MacColl's site has the levels of her recordings.
Fairytale Of New York - DR 08 Fairytale Of New York (1987 CD Single)
https://www.kirstymaccoll.com/dynamic-range-lists/

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Dynamic Range DB
https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/dr/desc

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TT DR Offline Meter Windows https://dr.loudness-war.info/downloads/ ... r-1_4a.zip
TT DR Offline Meter Mac https://dr.loudness-war.info/downloads/ ... or-MAC.zip

[The Noodlist]

I was curious as to the values of one of my fav songs
"Shhh" by Prince

I was surprised by the DR range of some of Prince's releases.
https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list ... ist=prince