Limiting for Social Media

[apaclin]

Hi guys, what's your limiting options when you export audio for reels, shorts and tiktoks? I always limit to -0.3 dBfs, but I noticed heavy distortion in one of my reels: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVYb0bAM5YE/

So after exporting audio I import it to a video editor (Final Cut) and don't limit it again.

What's the right approach with social media?

[Drew Stephenson]

I normally limit to -1 dBFS, which doesn't seem to get too badly mangled by most compression algorithms. I think if you want to play it properly safe then the advice is generally -3dBFS.

[James Perrett]

That distortion doesn't sound like a result of limiting to me. The guitar sounds fairly clean and the problem seems to be more with the backing track.

[Wonks]

I agree with James. The guitar sounds OK but the backing track is very squashed and distorted.

[apaclin]

That distortion doesn't sound like a result of limiting to me. The guitar sounds fairly clean and the problem seems to be more with the backing track.

No, the backing track is perfectly fine. Here's the clip which is not uploaded: https://disk.yandex.ru/i/L0iqkWfpt8CDSg

Also, just noticed that it turned stereo into mono, which is odd, because even previous reels are in stereo, so apparently the bug happened.

[yeroc]

Perhaps its a data limit when you uploaded it? i.e. while on a bandwidth limited network, a setting that was turned on for data compression within Instagram?

[apaclin]

Perhaps its a data limit when you uploaded it? i.e. while on a bandwidth limited network, a setting that was turned on for data compression within Instagram?

Just checked in the settings, yeah, there is a setting "upload in the highest quality" which was turned off, so most likely that affected it.

[James Perrett]

Also, just noticed that it turned stereo into mono, which is odd, because even previous reels are in stereo, so apparently the bug happened.

I wonder if something simply added the two stereo channels together to make mono? That would increase the level by 6dB.

[hz37]

Hi guys, what's your limiting options when you export audio for reels, shorts and tiktoks?
What's the right approach with social media?

I always aim for -16 LUFS loudness for social video's and podcasts, unless specified otherwise. Some services require -14 LUFS. The true peak I usually keep way conservative, around -3 dBTP. There is zero reason to max peaks out all the way to -0.3 dBFS. A properly mixed and mastered social video doesn't have that much loudness range because of its purpose/audience, so you could easily mix it around -16 LUFS and have a ceiling of -3 dBTP or even lower. One thing I usually do these days is remove phase alignment issues; a -16 LUFS mix can swing back and forth more than needed without phase alignment. RX Connect (the standalone editor) does it all for you. I would really recommend aiming for a loudness standard instead of a peak measurement. My clients love the loudness consistency of my mixes and the human hearing just doesn't register peak levels the way a normalizer does.

[Martin Walker]

And there I was naively thinking that 'Limiting for Social Media' was going to be about how to waste less time on it, and spend more time actually making music.