What is Mastering?

The Mastering process can be the best of both worlds, both technical as much as a creative phase in Music Production. It is the final step before commercial distribution and replication, where concepts like quality control, cohesiveness and clarity can be applied.

On the technical side, Mastering is about assuring your music is accurately reproduced when heard in the various means where consumers enjoy music: headphones, car stereo systems, studio monitors, hi-fi home systems, live sound systems, etc. It also assures fidelity of reproduction on the different means of playback/distribution desired by the client, whether it’s CD, online streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube or analogue means like vinyl or cassette. Parameters like levels, dynamics, frequency balance or phase cohesion take a rather vital importance in this process. It is also the task of the Mastering engineer to embed and include ISRC/UPC codes on chosen delivery mediums, CD-Text codes, and define transitions between songs on an album, EP, mixtape, etc.

Creativity also has its place in Mastering: it is a stage where the general “sound”, timbre and “feeling” of a record can be defined, enhanced and polished in order to finalize the process of creating Music.

Why do I need professional Mastering?

A professional Mastering engineer can provide both the experience and trained ears necessary to complete and lead your music to its maximum potencial. Mastering can be viewed as an activity just like playing an instrument, where the engineer uses his ears, experience and equipment/professionally treated room as its instrument to create and help create. A mastering engineer finishes your project and allows you to have the peace of mind to know it’s done and ready for release.

When working in music, the process can come to a point where you can no longer detach yourself from the emotional investment you put into it. The inclusion of a professional in your creative process, with a fresh pair of ears, can objectively help distinguish what is incrementing your work from what isn’t. Afterall, music is all about human interaction and is best served when trustworthy relationships are built between people working together to create art.