
Ultimately, you want to mix with the master in mind. Learning how to master a song is important, because it changes how you mix. They can make your song sound even better than it did before.

Think of it like getting a second opinion after you’ve gone to the doctor.īecause mastering engineers have not heard your music before, they can catch the mistakes you’ve made over hours and hours of mixing. These mastering engineers were able to get better results than anyone else.īut here’s the REAL reason mastering engineers exist: Mastering is a very special step with its own difficulties, so certain audio engineers began to specialize in these techniques. Realizing where the problem areas are is ten times more difficult for you! You’ve heard every second of that mix over and over again. If you have been mixing a song, you no longer have objectivity. Mastering is all about getting a second opinion. You also want to master your songs when you are putting out an album or an EP, to make sure all the songs are the same volume and have the same “tone.” The point of mastering is to make a song “sound like” other professional songs on the market, so that when they’re heard on the radio, or in a playlist, or in the credits of a movie, they don’t sound out of place. It also creates “Red Book” standard files for CD printing and audio streaming.

