Go over the target and streaming platforms turn you down — you don't get louder, just worse.
Integrated LUFS
Play the whole track, read the number at the end. Youlean Loudness Meter is free and good.
True peak
Keep under -1 dBTP
Can exceed 0 dBFS after inter-sample reconstruction even if your meter never clips. Use a TP limiter.
LRA
Doom LRA is naturally high — fine
Loudness range = dynamic spread quiet-to-loud. Under 4 LU = heavily squashed.
Loudness war
Dead. A -9 LUFS master gets turned down 5 dB on Spotify. Won't be louder, just worse.