How loud should you make your YouTube videos? It's a simple step, but one that makes a huge difference. We'll cover how loud your videos should be, how to check any video on YouTube, and how to get your videos right every time using a limiter.

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Premiere Pro
Once you've finished your mix, head over to the master track on the mixer. Add a compressor (optional), a limiter, and the "Loudness Radar" (from the "Special" category).
The Loudness Radar will give you a readout in LUFS (or LKFS). You can play back your video, and see what reading you get. Then adjust your limiter to compensate, just like I showed in the video!

Final Cut Pro
FCP doesn't have a conventional mixer, so this is the best way I've found to "master" you videos. If you have a better way, use that and let me know in the comments!
Once you've completed everything in your mix, select all of your audio clips and create a compound clip. This should preserve your mix, but create one clip you can add FX to.
Add a compressor (optional), a limiter, and the "MultiMeter" to that compound clip.
The MultiMeter gives you a few different readouts, but LUFS is one of them. You want to particularly pay attention to "LUI", this is what YouTube will be using.
As in my video, adjust your limiter until your "LUI" is as close to 14 as possible!

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Timestamps
00:00 Why does loudness matter?
00:52 How to measure loudness
01:26 How loud can a YouTube video be?
01:52 How to test any video on YouTube
02:56 How to make your videos louder


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