How to Master A Song: Steps to Take Before Mastering Your Record

Mixing and Mastering today has become one and the same with each other. Seems like you can’t do one without the other. Mixing and Mastering are in fact two entirely different processes. You may know mixing as the balancing of instruments and vocals and adding effects to create a radio-ready song, but you might see mastering as making the track louder to compete with commercial records.

This is true, but Mastering is WAYYY more than just that.

What is Mastering? Mastering a record is that final touch of a song that makes it sound great on many different sound sources (think of your car, laptop, phone, those busted airpods you won’t replace, etc. ). It’s also giving your track the tags and labels needed for streaming services to recognize the data of your track (Song Name, The Album it’s on, Genre, etc.)

There are different levels of thought when there’s mixing involved versus when mastering happens. Mixing is about sculpting and carving out any imbalances between each track and providing a 3D listening experience. Mastering is the most technical aspect of music production. Any changes made are to be more subtle, because a change in the slightest affects the entire feel of the song. Don’t get confused, Mastering is the most important element of a record, and can affect the relationship in which how your fans experience your music.

If you’re mastering your own music, I want to provide you with some steps to think about when Mastering. This is not about what plugins you should use, but rather the psychology behind a mastering engineer.

#1 - First Of All, Don’t Master Your Own Songs

Please don’t see this and scroll down yet!

Mastering requires two things: A really great ear, and objectivity. The funny thing about your ears is that they lie to you, very fast. I’m talking within the first 5 listens to a song.

If you’re producing your own music, recording yourself, and mixing yourself, you are already too close to your music. Therefore, you won’t have the objectivity that an outside ear will hear. You can’t know if a song is too dark, too bright, needs more oomph, more spread, or if it’s just fine because your ears have already adjusted to the sound you’re hearing.

Even using plugins like the Izotope Ozone that has a mastering assistant, I was always shocked to find that it would turn down my bass and high end, which I worked so hard on getting right! Fast forward, and I understand why now (I used to mix with my speakers loud, so I was lying to myself, haha)

A dedicated mastering engineer will have years in ear training to notice the nuances of the slightest frequency boost. Also because they are hearing your songs for the first time, they will be able to listen with the freshest ears and give the song the final touches it may need.

But I get it. Paying between $30-$200 for a mastered song each time can get quite pricey. So, if you have to master your own records, I would say stop listening to the final mix for a while, maybe a week or two, and then come back. That way you have a fresh perspective. You may be able to tell if you need to go back to the mix.

#2 - What actually makes a song “Loud”

Believe it or not, loudness doesn’t happen in the mastering stage. Majority of the loudness comes from the mixing stage. You might say “Well iZZY, don’t you use limiters at the end of the master track? Yea, but peak limiters do very little to increase the overall level of a track. Your song may peak at -0.3db but when compared to other records, sounds like a quiet little recording.

Great mixing engineers use a tactic known as “PsychoAcoustics.” In other words, things that make you THINK things are louder. The beautiful thing is that there are a myriad of ways this can be done. Here’s a few without being too technical (I might get in trouble for explaining this)

• Harmonics - Harmonics add extra frequencies to sound sources to make them more complex and “fuller” sounding. More Frequencies = more perceived loudness

• Dynamics Controls - Dynamic range is the difference between the loudest and softest sound source. If you can decrease how far apart these are, everything seems so much louder.

• Filtering with EQ - Using a filter cuts unnecessary frequencies (even in 808s and kicks) and makes more space for things to shine. Too many frequencies mucks up a mix and makes certain frequencies louder than the entire mix. Elimination or reduction to problem areas allow the entire mix to be brought up = MORE Loudness

• Measuring RMS over Peak - Peak measurement can be a great way to show how loud your sound gets at a certain point, but RMS (Average Level over time) can tell you how loud your song is on average. There are many other ways to measure loudness too. Just don’t solely rely on these ALL the time. Use your ears.

There’s many other things, but the point is you or your dedicated mixing engineer should focus on loudness in different areas other than the mastering stage. Speaking of…

#3 - Mastering is NOT an Extension of Mixing

Just as with all stages of music creation, Whatever problems you have in your mix do not disappear in the mastering stage. It is actually accented and highlighted.

If your mix is bright and too crispy, mastering it makes it more of that. If you feel your vocals aren’t loud enough, turning up the volume makes them sit back even more. That’s because mastering is affecting all of your tracks at once. If anyone says they do stem mastering, they are STILL mixing!

If you are mixing your own records, do not develop the mindset of “I’ll fix it in mastering”. Don’t do that in any stage of your music.

A mastering engineer is not a mechanic, and any good engineer will actually send back your record with notes on what to fix before mastering.

#4 - The Thought Process of Mastering

As I said, when mastering your own music, take some time away from listening to the final mix. When you come back, if you find you like the actual final mix but need a few adjustments overall ask yourself the following: (Remember, you’re affecting the entire record)

• What song does my song sound the most like? (Referencing other commercial songs)

• How do I feel about the tone of the record? (Can I make it a bit brighter? Does certain sound more muddy, boxy, or harsh? )

• Is the sound consistent in volume?

• Does it need to be more vibey or add depth or is it clean? (Can I add saturation and harmonics to either round out the sound or add character without it sounding too distorted? ) To me, this is when a record sounds like a record.

• Does the sound seem to pop out of the speakers (can I add stereo imaging without it sounding too wishy-washy?)

• How do I add the final loudness without distortion or losing the bass

• How does the final product compare in all aspects to what I ‘m referencing? Does it sound as loud and as clear?