Headroom Calculator
Calculate headroom targets for mixing and mastering, with True Peak vs Sample Peak toggle and delivery guide.
Youlean Loudness Meter — True Peak + LUFS + short-term display
iZotope Insight 2 — full loudness suite, inter-sample peak detection
Nugen MasterCheck Pro — broadcast spec compliance checking
About the Headroom Calculator
The Headroom Calculator is a free interactive tool for music producers who want accurate answers fast. Whether you're searching for headroom calculator mixing, how much headroom for mastering, true peak vs sample peak, this tool gives you real-time results without leaving your browser — and explains the reasoning behind every value so you know what to do with it.
Every tool on MusicProductionWiki is built around one principle: answer the question and explain the reasoning. The Headroom Calculator not only calculates — it shows you why those values work, what changes when you adjust them, and what professional producers do differently across genres.
This tool is part of the Dynamics & Compression category. It's embedded directly inside the relevant entries in The Producer's Bible — MPW's comprehensive reference library — where it appears in context alongside the theory that explains why each setting works the way it does.
All tools on MusicProductionWiki are free, require no login, and work in any modern browser on desktop or mobile.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much headroom should I leave when mixing?
Leave 3–6 dB of headroom on your mix bus before sending to mastering. This means your mix peaks should not exceed -3 to -6 dBFS. This gives the mastering engineer room to add compression, limiting, and loudness without clipping.
What is True Peak and why does it matter?
True Peak measures the actual peak level of a signal after digital-to-analog conversion, which can be higher than the sample peak shown in most DAWs. Streaming platforms check True Peak. Exceed -1 dBTP and your master may be turned down or rejected.
What is the correct headroom target for Spotify?
Spotify normalizes to -14 LUFS and recommends a True Peak maximum of -1 dBTP. If your master is louder, Spotify turns it down. There is no benefit to submitting louder than -14 LUFS for streaming.