4. Important Mastering Keys to Know!

There is so much information on what “proper” mastering is. Many times the information we’re given tells us to process too much or too little, “add these specific plugins”, or “mastering is just increasing the output level”.

Now, we have entire mastering suits that claim to master your song using AI software all by just analyzing the audio from your mix. Scary or revolutionary? More importantly, does that kind of thing really produce commercially competitive sounding masters?

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, so it is no wonder why you might be confused.

The most important thing to remember is to listen for what needs to be corrected and not to just start adding a checklist full of processing plugins. Those do not work for every master. 

Let's break down what mastering is all about and how to approach this craft so that we can produce the best sounding record possible.

In this episode you'll learn: 

• The 4 characteristics I need from a commercial master
• Guidelines to better achieve these characteristics (downloadable pdf)
• My mastering plugin recommendations 

Hope you enjoy!

- Emily