Mastering, explained
Music mastering, explained in plain terms
Mastering is the final stage between a finished mix and a released record. It is not a magic gloss and it cannot rescue a broken mix — it sets level, tonal balance, dynamics, and width so the song holds up on every system it will be played on.
Desktop recommended · phones work for listening and quick edits, but the full console, meters and fastest renders are on a laptop or computer.
The workflow
- STEP 1
Measure
Loudness, true peak, crest factor, and spectral balance of the mix.
- STEP 2
Shape tone
Corrective EQ, then broad tonal moves for the intended sound.
- STEP 3
Control dynamics
Multiband and bus compression to steady the song's level.
- STEP 4
Limit and check
True-peak limiting to target loudness, then re-measure.
Loudness: LUFS, not peaks
Perceived level is measured in LUFS. Integrated LUFS is the whole song's average, short-term LUFS tracks moment to moment, and loudness range describes how much the level moves. Streaming platforms turn loud masters down on playback, so pushing far past their target only costs you dynamics — it does not make you louder to a listener.
True peak and why -1 dBTP matters
A sample peak of 0 dBFS can still clip after lossy encoding, because the reconstructed waveform overshoots between samples. True-peak metering catches that. Leaving about 1 dB of true-peak headroom keeps the encoded file clean on every platform.
Crest factor: the over-compression tell
Crest factor is the distance between peak and average level. When limiting crushes it, the song sounds loud for ten seconds and tiring after thirty. Watching crest factor while you push level is the simplest guard against a fatiguing master.
What mastering cannot fix
A buried or harsh vocal, sibilance and plosives, frequency masking between the vocal and the beat, pitch drift, and phase problems are all mix issues. They need fixing on the stems — which is why MixTrackLab runs a full mix stage before the master rather than only a bus chain.
Mastering your own song
Bounce the mix with a few dB of headroom, pick a mastering signature that matches the genre, set a loudness target for your release platform, and A/B loudness-matched against a commercial reference. Judge tone and impact, not level — then export.