How to Master a Metal Song Without Killing the Punch
Published · updated · by Loopin
Metal is the genre where loudness costs the most. Everything is already dense, so every decibel of limiting comes straight out of the kick — here is where to stop.
Aim for −9 to −11 LUFS, not −6
Modern metal masters commonly land between −9 and −11 LUFS integrated. Below that you are trading the attack of the kick and snare for a number that streaming normalisation takes straight back off you — the platform turns a −6 master down by several decibels and the flattening stays.
If you want the record to hit hard rather than merely measure loud, pick a target in that range and hold it. Running the track through mastering at a sensible target and comparing it against your own louder attempt, level-matched, settles the argument in about a minute.
The kick and the low guitars are fighting, not the master
The single most common cause of a mushy metal master is the kick and the rhythm guitars occupying the same 60–120 Hz. Mastering cannot separate two things that were printed on top of each other; it can only make the collision louder.
Fix it in the mix: high-pass the rhythm guitars around 80–100 Hz and let the kick own everything below. A 1.5–2 dB dip in the guitars where the kick fundamental sits does more for the master than any processing applied afterwards.
The 3–5 kHz shelf is the difference between aggressive and painful
Distorted guitars pile up energy between 3 and 5 kHz, and that is also where cymbals and snare crack live. A master that boosts broadly up top turns that pile into fatigue within thirty seconds.
Cut rather than boost. A gentle 1–1.5 dB dip around 3.5 kHz usually makes a metal master sound more aggressive, because the transients get through instead of being buried under a wall of upper mids.
Watch the gain reduction, not the loudness meter
Three to four decibels of limiting on a metal mix is a lot. Six is where the kick starts disappearing into the guitars. Ten and you no longer have a rhythm section, you have a texture.
The test: solo-listen to the first two bars of the loudest chorus and ask whether you can hear the kick as a separate event. If it has become part of the guitar wall, you have gone past it, and no amount of EQ afterwards brings it back.
Ceiling at −1 dBTP and check on a phone
Metal is the genre most likely to breach on playback, because dense material has more inter-sample overshoot than sparse material. A −1 dBTP ceiling costs you nothing perceptually once normalisation sets the level anyway.
Then listen on a phone speaker. If the low end vanishes entirely and the track turns into hissing cymbals, the balance is too low-heavy for real-world playback — and that is a mix note, not something to solve by pushing the master harder.
Frequently asked questions
What LUFS should a metal song be mastered to?
Between -9 and -11 LUFS integrated for most modern metal. Louder than that and the extra limiting comes out of the kick and snare attack, which streaming normalisation then hands back as nothing.
Why does my metal master sound muddy?
Almost always the kick and rhythm guitars sharing 60-120 Hz. High-pass the guitars around 80-100 Hz and dip them 1.5-2 dB where the kick fundamental sits. Mastering cannot separate two things printed on top of each other.
How much limiting is too much on metal?
Three to four decibels is normal, six is aggressive, ten and the kick has merged into the guitar wall. Listen to the first two bars of the loudest chorus and check whether the kick is still a separate event.