Audio mixing and mastering discussion

SoundGym

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keytar muzik
Sep 25, 2019
Hey Soundgym fellows. I am composing a lot every day and have started uploading my music loops in a video format to:
https://www.instagram.com/keytarmuzik/
I notice consistent problem when I play the videos on my iPhone 5. When the volume is all the way up, the sound becomes distorted on the phone's speaker. Lately I started cutting lower end EQ very significantly and the volume became louder as a result which I thought is a good thing. But I still hear distortion when volume is turned all the way up. I am writing here to ask for any suggestions what can be done in the future not to have the music result in distorted playback when volume is all the way up. Should I make the volume lower on the master channel before I upload? Or should I cut more low EQ, etc...? I really appreciate this opportunity to ask the question and we all can learn here. Thank you for reading and trying to help out. Be blessed everyone.
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Ross Williams
Sep 25, 2019
Are you mastering to 0dB? This can cause distortion when music is converted to another format such as MP3. If you're not already, try mastering to -1dB and see if that helps.
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Ross Williams
Sep 25, 2019
Just a thought: It's possible that Apple has designed the iPhone to allow the sound to be so loud that the speaker distorts it, because in some environments (e.g. conference call in a noisy environment), volume might be more important than lack of distortion. So it might not be a problem with your music. Check with other music!
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keytar muzik
Sep 25, 2019
Yes Ross I am maximizing to -0.3 dB because Instagram doesnt have problem with loud volume. I will try -1. The speaker on iphone 5 doesnt seem to handle well. Maybe new iPhone is different
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Fernandez cristian
Sep 26, 2019
hello how are you, always keep in mind the true peak of the signal because in the digital environment your mix can reach -0.3db and not exceed when you have a limiter, in the analog environment that limiter does not appear
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Fernandez cristian
Sep 26, 2019
always limit your mixtures with a limiter that has the true peak and have control over it by monitoring it with a meter
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keytar muzik
Sep 27, 2019
Ok I am going to study what is true peak. Thank you Fernandez
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keytar muzik
Sep 27, 2019
but the case is it plays fine until turned the volume all the way up, is it the device problem then?
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keytar muzik
Sep 27, 2019
or am I making my master too loud?