What Mastering Actually Does (And Doesn’t Do)

Mastering is an important part of music production, but it’s also one of the most misunderstood.

Some people expect mastering to completely transform a terrible mix into a great one.

In reality, it’s something much more subtle — and arguably more important.

Here’s what mastering does:

When you master an EP, album, or any collection of songs, mastering:

• Balances the tone of each song so they sound like they belong together
• Ensures consistent dynamics across the project
• Creates an intentional loudness relationship between tracks
• Helps tracks translate well across different playback systems
• Can address minor imperfections
• Prepares songs for their final release format (streaming, CD, vinyl all have different requirements)

As you can see, mastering isn’t about trying to turn a bad mix into a good one. It’s about optimising mixes that already sound great, so that they’re consistent, and ready for release.

Keep these goals in mind next time you master your latest collection of songs — and see how it changes your results.