Mastering
The final step of audio post-production that prepares a recording for distribution.
Definition
Mastering is the final step in music production before distribution. A mastering engineer optimizes the overall sound, ensures consistency across an album, adds final polish through EQ and compression, and prepares files for various formats. Mastered tracks are louder, clearer, and translate well across different playback systems.
Why It Matters
Mastering is the final step that prepares a mix for distribution—optimizing levels, ensuring consistency across an album, and preparing files for various formats. It's the quality control that ensures music sounds its best everywhere.
Professional mastering can make the difference between music that competes at commercial level and music that sounds "off" compared to other releases. It's a relatively small investment that significantly impacts perception.
Examples in Practice
A band's first professionally mastered release gains playlist placement that their previous self-mastered EP couldn't achieve.
A mastering engineer catches frequency issues that would have sounded problematic on streaming platforms.
An album's mastering creates cohesion between songs recorded at different studios over two years.