Imagine your GarageBand song is ready to export. You click Play on the MP3 but it sounds either too quiet or overly loud compared to commercial music. Why? Well it’s a question of loudness. By default, GarageBand automatically normalises the loudness of exported projects if required. However, it’s best to turn this off and handle it manually, using a plugin to more effectively monitor overall loudness. Luckily, the free Youlean Loudness Meter by Julijan Nikolic is exactly this and measures LUFS across the project Master Track. You can then use GarageBand’s native Limiter plugin to boost up to a desired ceiling level, while avoiding peak clipping.