One does not simply loudness.

[Crimsonghost]

Studio One. Yeah, not the best looking out there.

[claudedefaren]

Understand that the longer the song is, the more sausage'd it will look when you zoom out and look at it

[titchbit]

Understand that the longer the song is, the more sausage'd it will look when you zoom out and look at it

hahah yes it seems pretty obvious but I guarantee many people don't realize this.

[fragments]

Understand that the longer the song is, the more sausage'd it will look when you zoom out and look at it

hahah yes it seems pretty obvious but I guarantee many people don't realize this.

Holy shit. Never thought of that, actually. Not that I typically evaluate anything based on a song waveform...

[titchbit]

true neither do I. it's mainly obvious when you look at an hour long mix for example

[Icetickle]

Can I benefit from gentle compression on the whole mix?

There is a tab in izotope ozone called dynamics (multiband compression, limiting and gate... I believe).
The default setting is compressor on -10dB (ratio 1), gate on -80dB (ratio 1) and limiter on 0dB (ratio 10) for each band. Could my track benefit from this and is this an okay setting? What could I change here?

Also what does a gate on -80dB do?

[fragments]

Yes. I believe some gentle compression to catch peaks on the master can be a good thing even if you aren't going for a super-loud mix. Also, a compressor with some character on the master can be nice as well.

[Triphosphate]

Can I benefit from gently compression on the whole mix?
There is a tab in izotope ozone called dynamics. Basically I believe that is multiband compression, limiting and gate.
The default setting is compressor on -10dB (ratio 1), gate on -80dB (ratio 1) and limiter on 0dB (ratio 10) for each band. Could my track benefit from this and is this an okay setting for this. What could I change here?

Also what does a gate on -80dB do?

You can benefit from gentle compression on the whole mix. The default setting... A compressor with a ratio of 1 isn't compressing. Start by setting the threshold at 0 and some light compression maybe between 1:1 and 1.5:1 or 2:1. Then slide the threshold down slowly till it starts to attenuate a bit (and by a bit I mean less than 3db... less than that even, if you want it gentle). I'm not really familiar with izo, if it automatically gains then good, if not, then raise the gain on that band about as much as it's attenuating. The limiter at 0db isn't doing anything unless you're clipping in the mix. A gate is like a compressor in reverse, a sound that is lower than the threshold (-80db) will be muted, anything over -80db plays normally.

[Artie_Fufkin]

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet that I think can make a lot of difference is the balance of frequencies across the spectrum. Bass will take up a lot of headroom with less perceived loudness. If you soft clip, hard clip or saturate anything in the mid highs (around 3kHz - 5kHz) like a snare, hi hat or even a simple sine lead in that range, it will sound very loud and fatiguing whereas if you distort a sub, it won't sound nearly as loud with the same distortion.
Some on here would argue your sub would be even weaker for distorting it, but even if your track was only a sub hard clipped to 0dB, the fundamental frequency wouldn't be decreased. The harmonics are only icing on the cake, if you want.

If you want to get your track to have the same loudness as another, use the other track as reference. Check the balances of the frequencies as, use filters and a spectrum analysis plugin to check the peak and RMS levels of bass, mids, highs and in between if necessary. Also check different parts of the song.

[Icetickle]

Can I benefit from gently compression on the whole mix?
There is a tab in izotope ozone called dynamics. Basically I believe that is multiband compression, limiting and gate.
The default setting is compressor on -10dB (ratio 1), gate on -80dB (ratio 1) and limiter on 0dB (ratio 10) for each band. Could my track benefit from this and is this an okay setting for this. What could I change here?

Also what does a gate on -80dB do?

You can benefit from gentle compression on the whole mix. The default setting... A compressor with a ratio of 1 isn't compressing. Start by setting the threshold at 0 and some light compression maybe between 1:1 and 1.5:1 or 2:1. Then slide the threshold down slowly till it starts to attenuate a bit (and by a bit I mean less than 3db... less than that even, if you want it gentle). I'm not really familiar with izo, if it automatically gains then good, if not, then raise the gain on that band about as much as it's attenuating. The limiter at 0db isn't doing anything unless you're clipping in the mix. A gate is like a compressor in reverse, a sound that is lower than the threshold (-80db) will be muted, anything over -80db plays normally.

And what about doing it different with different bands? How much do I want to compress the high mid, low or low mid freq.? Or shall I do it the same for all of them?

[Brothulhu]

And what about doing it different with different bands? How much do I want to compress the high mid, low or low mid freq.? Or shall I do it the same for all of them?

Completely dependent on your track, experiment and see what sounds best