What do you do if you're not sure what audio mastering tools will work best for your music projects?

In my experience, the ultimate goal is always “Do No Harm.” How can we reach a better version in as little steps as possible? For example, if you need to tame transients and the midrange, why not a multi-band compressor instead of EQ then compression? Maybe you need to control the dynamics to meet a loudness spec, but a limiter or compressor takes away from the character of the song too much; try just automation instead. Always try to keep the original intention of the music, and if there’s too many mistakes or imperfections, don’t be afraid to send it back to the mix.

I've found it helpful to understand the distribution platform's loudness standards and how they adjust and process to meet those standards. For example, Apple Music has set a loudness standard of -16 LUFS (+ or - 1LU), and Spotify has a standard of -14 LUFS. If you send a track that has been mastered to CD levels (-10 LUFS), the track will be processed and turned down by their algorithm. It's helpful to understand these target loudness standards and try to get your music to sound the best as possible in these ranges. That way, you are making the decisions about loudness and dynamics, not some automated computer program.

Well, hiring a mastering engineer will get you to your goal instantly, in the real world ?? See what they do, ask questions, and enjoy the rest of your day. Easy.

There's no substitute for experience in the craft. So, think about your goals. If your goal is to get your music to sound its best, and you don't want to spend years on a learning curve, then look for a good mastering engineer to hire. (Album credits of your favorite albums are a great place to start) If you are interested in the craft and want to do it a lot, buckle down, nerd out, do tons of research, and then DO. There's no substitute for doing, failing, and trying again. Start with whatever tool you have until it fails you, try to understand why it failed you, and then research to find a tool that solves that problem.

Professionals are best, but if you want to give it a go, try Izotope Ozone, which has a great automated master to get you started. Probably most affordable option without having to invest in a studio. Best practices = -use different speakers than what you used in mixdown (even Laptop mono); -upload a benchmark song and analyze its EQ and LUFS (Ozone is great for this; -if there are “ouch” factors or other blemishes, consider revising them in the mix-down, not in the mastering process. -Maximizer / limiter should go at the end, minus monitoring plugins, like Tonal balance control and Insight (also Izotope). Even if you go professional, trying it out is a fun way to get a benchmark. Feel free to reach out if you find this helpful ??

Start with the basics: a compressor, an eq and a limiter (in this specific order). If it still feels overwhelming begin with a preset and then try to adjust the different parameters and listen carefully to understand what difference they make.

Two ideas: 1) if you really don’t feel confident about trying to master your own music, find someone you trust to master it, but to also teach you what they’re doing. Mastering can mean a lot of things. Sometimes it’s just running your music signal through a really expensive signal chain, which has been carefully selected by an audio engineer. But often you’re paying for the mastering engineer’s listening skills and expertise. Can you learn that during one session? Probably not, but it should give you some inspiration and point you in the right direction. 2) Find reference tracks that you feel have been mastered really well, and that you think would be useful as a model. Try to get your finished sound as close to those as you can.

As a person who is more focused on the aspect of music production, I admittedly am not the best when it comes to mastering OR mixing. I can do it and do it well, but it takes a much longer time for me to achieve the results I desire. In this case, I don't hesitate to hire outside sources who specialize in mastering and/or mixing while I continue to hone my own skills. If you have the time and have a limited budget, there is software you can try, but nothing is better than a fresh pair of real ears. If you absolutely must do it yourself, consider investing in the "VSX Headphone Mixing System." It offers a sound emulation to every scenario you would want to do, such as how it will sound in the car, in the club, etc. Look it up for yourself!

Well, when you look at a song from a holistic perspective, few things to keep in mind. - LUFS also called Loudness unit relative to full scale. Depending on the platforms, the value differs for e.g. for Spotify it is -14db, for Apple it is -16db. Every platform has a different LUFS value. *You can use a plugin called as Youlean meter that gives you a fair idea about the LUFS levels. - Usually mixing engineers have a reference track they look up to when, so you can do the same and compare your songs. *You can use a plugin called Tonal Balance control by Izotope to compare the songs. -The biggest piece of advice I got was to control my low end and perfect basic mixing. The cleaner the mix, the better o/p you would get after mastering