How much headroom is preferable?

Mastering
1

Hi Randy,

Thank you for your time. Was wondering what is considered a respectable amount of headroom for the ME to work with?

Best,
LANDO

2

Hi Lando,

I’m mostly concerned with headroom with regards to average level, not peak level. So, for a mix will full instrumentation playing through most of the song, a mix that comes in around -11 LUFS (integrated) or lower is usually a good amount. This gives me about 3dB or more of average level headroom to work with. But honestly, I really can and do work with whatever people send me in terms of headroom.

Best Regards,

Randy