How to master a song, step by step.

1. Prepare the mix

Good mastering starts with a mix that leaves room to work. Before you export:

• Take the limiter off the mix bus. A limiter on the mix makes decisions the master can’t undo. If you used one to judge the mix, bypass it for the export.
• Leave headroom. Let the loudest peaks sit around −6 to −3 dBFS. Lower the master fader or the mix bus input; don’t squash the mix to get there.
• Export a 24-bit WAV (or 32-bit float) at your project’s sample rate. No MP3, no normalising on export, no dither if you export float.
• Leave the tails. Don’t cut reverb or delay tails short. Trim the silence at the start and end later, in the master.

2. Pick two or three reference tracks

Choose released songs in your genre that you like the sound of. Load them next to your mix and match their loudness before you compare: louder always sounds better, so a loudness difference hides the real differences in tone and punch. Compare the low end, the brightness of the vocal and the space around it, and how dense the loud parts feel.

3. Listen first, then fix

Play the whole song once without touching anything. Note what stands out: a boomy low end, a harsh vocal, a dull top, a chorus that doesn’t lift. Mastering fixes the few things that stand out. If something is badly wrong (a vocal far too loud, a muddy kick and bass), it is faster and better to fix it in the mix.

4. Balance the tone with EQ

• Use broad, gentle moves: 0.5 to 2 dB is usually enough on a master.
• Clean up rumble below about 25–30 Hz if it eats headroom without adding anything.
• Look for build-ups around 200–400 Hz (mud) and 2–5 kHz (harshness). Cut them gently rather than boosting everything else.
• Add air with a wide shelf above about 10 kHz only if the song sounds dull next to your references.
• Switch the EQ on and off at matched loudness. If you can’t tell which is better, leave it off.

5. Glue with compression

A gentle bus compressor helps the parts sit together. Start with a low ratio (1.5:1 to 2:1), a slow attack (10–30 ms) so the drums still hit, and an auto or medium release. Aim for 1 to 2 dB of gain reduction on the loudest parts. If the song sounds smaller or the kick loses its punch, back off.

If only one range is a problem, for example a bass that jumps out on some notes, a multiband compressor on that range alone does less damage than compressing the whole mix harder.

6. Check stereo width and mono

• Keep the low end, below about 100–150 Hz, centred. Wide bass loses energy in mono and on club systems.
• Widen the highs only a little, if at all. Too much width sounds hollow on phones and smart speakers.
• Switch to mono and listen. If the vocal, snare or a lead drops away, something is out of phase. Fix it in the mix if you can.

7. Set the loudness with a limiter

The limiter is the last processor in the chain. It raises the level and catches the peaks. Push it until the song is as loud as it needs to be, then stop before the drums lose their snap or the low end starts to distort. Watch the short-term loudness of the loudest part, your chorus or drop: that is how loud the song feels.

How loud to go depends on where the song will be played:

• Streaming only: Spotify and YouTube play at about −14 LUFS, Apple Music at about −16 LUFS, and they turn louder songs down. Going much louder only costs punch. See mastering for Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
• SoundCloud, DJs and clubs: nothing turns your song down, so a quiet master sounds quiet. A louder master (about −8 to −10 LUFS) holds up next to other tracks. See mastering for SoundCloud.

8. Keep true peaks under control

Set the limiter’s ceiling in true peak (dBTP), not just sample peak. Streaming services encode your WAV into a lossy format, and encoding can raise peaks slightly. −1 dBTP is the safe choice for every service. Apple recommends leaving at least 1 dB of headroom; very loud masters can go up to about −0.3 dBTP if they still sound clean after encoding.

9. Measure it

Check integrated loudness, the loudness of the loudest part and the true peak. You can measure your song with the free loudness checker: check your song free, measured in your browser, nothing uploaded. It also shows how each streaming service will play it.

10. Listen on several systems

Studio monitors and headphones only tell part of the story. Play the master on a phone speaker, earbuds, a laptop and in a car. Listen for a low end that vanishes or booms, a vocal that gets lost, and harshness at higher volume. Make small changes and check again.

11. Export the right files

If you export 16-bit from a 24-bit or float session, add dither as the very last step. Make an MP3 separately for sharing and promo, never for your distributor.

12. Distributor checklist

1. WAV or FLAC, 16 or 24-bit, at the song’s sample rate.
2. True peaks at −1 dBTP or slightly below, no clipping.
3. No long silence at the start or end.
4. Mono-safe: nothing important disappears when summed to mono.
5. Song title, artist and credits spelled exactly as they should appear.
6. Preview start set to your chorus or drop, where the distributor lets you.

The fast option: online mastering

Doing all of this well takes time, a good room and practice. If you want a release-ready master in a few minutes, MakeItSoundPro masters every song three ways: Gentle, Balanced and Bold, all at the same loudness. You compare them with your original at that same loudness, so you hear what changed rather than just more volume.

• Two loudness choices: Loud (about −8.5 LUFS in the loud parts, true peaks −0.3 dBTP) or Streaming (about −11 LUFS in the loud parts, true peaks −1 dBTP). Streaming is available after any purchase.
• Release check on every master: loudness, true peaks, mono and silence. “Listen on” simulates a phone, laptop, earbuds, car and club.
• Downloads: a 24-bit WAV at the song’s sample rate, a 320 kbps MP3 and a 30-second clip of the highlight.
• Price: 3 songs free when you sign up, no card. Then $3.99 per song, 10 for $19.99, or Pro for $9.99 a month for 30 songs. Whole records go through album mastering.

Even if you master yourself, it is a quick way to hear a second opinion on your mix.

Questions