Guides

Suno v5 artifacts, measured

Updated 2026-09-06

Opinions about how Suno sounds are everywhere. Measurements are rarer. These are the patterns that show up across recent v4.5 and v5 exports when they are compared with commercial masters in the same genres.

The five patterns

• Cutoff. A hard drop of 50 to 70 dB between 15.5 and 16.5 kHz on almost every file. Newer versions sit at the top of that range. No commercial master has it.
• Low-mid excess. The 250 to 450 Hz band runs 3 to 6 dB above the genre reference. It reads as boxy and it is the main reason the tracks do not translate to small speakers.
• Resonances. Two to four narrow peaks between 3 and 6 kHz that repeat across the whole song. This is the metallic character people describe.
• Width. Side channel 15 to 20 dB under the mid, against 6 to 10 dB on a commercial reference. The image is narrow.
• Level. Integrated loudness usually between -14 and -18 LUFS, with peaks close to 0 dBFS, so the file is quiet and already near clipping at once. That combination is what makes a naive limiter sound bad on these tracks.

What it takes to fix

Order matters. Rebuild above the cutoff from the harmonics that exist. Cut the low-mid excess by the measured amount, not a preset. Notch the resonances narrowly. Widen above 200 Hz toward the genre target and keep the bass mono. Then, and only then, compress and limit to the loudness target with true peak held at -1 dBTP.

What we do not know

Each Suno release moves the numbers. The cutoff has crept up. The resonances have changed frequency. That is why Burnish measures every file instead of applying a fixed Suno preset, and why the report shows the measurement, so you can see what your particular export needed.