Mastering is the last step of making a song. A mastering engineer or a piece of software takes the finished stereo mix and polishes it: they balance the overall tone, set the loudness, and make the track sound right on every kind of speaker. The goal is a song that sounds consistent, clear and ready to release.
Mastering does not fix a bad mix. It works on the whole song at once, so it can only make small, broad changes. If you need to change how loud one instrument is, you go back to the mix, or to the separate parts of the song, which you can get with a stem splitter.
People mix up the two words, so here is the difference.
- Mixing works on the individual parts. You set the volume of the vocal, the drums and the bass, add effects, and place sounds left and right.
- Mastering works on the finished stereo file. You treat the whole song as one piece and make it ready for listeners.
A simple picture: mixing is cooking the meal, and mastering is plating it and checking the seasoning one last time.
A typical master touches these things.
- Tone. A gentle EQ makes the overall brightness and warmth right. A small boost in the highs or a small cut in the low mids can change the whole feel.
- Dynamics. A compressor evens out the loud and quiet parts so the song feels steady and a bit more solid.
- Loudness. A limiter raises the volume of the song while stopping the loudest peaks from distorting. This is why a mastered song sounds louder than the raw mix.
- Stereo width. Small adjustments make the sides feel a little wider without losing a solid center.
- Consistency. On an album, each song is matched so that you do not have to touch the volume knob between tracks.
- Technical prep. The final file is exported in the right format, with the right start and end, and with the song order and gaps set for the release.
Most of these are subtle. The point is that a track should hold up on earbuds, car speakers and a big system.
Many streaming services play songs at a similar volume by turning louder tracks down. If you push a song to be as loud as possible, you squash its dynamics and gain little in return. A song with a bit of space can punch harder after the service turns it down.
Check the target for the services you use, since the numbers differ and change over time.
Because mastering works on the whole song, the best time to find problems is before it. Listen for these:
- The vocal is buried in the music, or too loud.
- The bass booms and covers the kick.
- The song is full of mud in the low mids.
- Reverb or echo is too heavy on the voice.
If any of these show up, go back to the mix. Mastering will only make the problem louder.
Sometimes you do not have the project any more. All you have is a single mixed file, and one thing is off, such as a vocal that sits too low.
Splitting the song into parts is one way to rebalance it. Here is how it works with Unmix Studio:
- Open the stem splitter and sign in with Google. New accounts get 5 free credits, with no card needed.
- Upload the mixed song as MP3, WAV, M4A or FLAC, up to 10 minutes.
- Press the big orange button. The price shows first: most tools cost 1 credit per minute of song.
- Download the parts you need. In our test, a 4 minute 44 second song split into 6 stems in 56 seconds and cost 5 credits.
- Load the parts into your DAW, balance them again, and export a new mix.
For simpler jobs, the 4-Stem Splitter gives you vocals, drums, bass and the rest, and the Vocal Remover gives you the vocal and the instrumental.
Know the limits. The downloads are MP3 at 320 kbps, so keep the original if you need the highest quality for the final master. Split parts may carry small bits of other instruments, and a rebuilt mix will not match the original exactly. Splitting is also meant for your own songs or for private study. Releasing a remix of someone else's song needs permission.
Unmix Studio does not master songs. It separates them, and you do the balancing and mastering in your own software or with an engineer.
It depends on the goal.
- A personal project or a demo. A careful self-master in your DAW is usually enough.
- A release on streaming services. A second pair of ears helps. An engineer works in a well-treated room and hears things you may miss in your own studio.
- Automatic tools. Online services apply a preset chain of EQ, compression and limiting. They are quick and fine for rough work, but they do not know what you meant by the song.
- Export your finished mix as WAV with some room at the top, not pushed to the maximum level.
- Put an EQ on the master track. Make small moves, a decibel or two.
- Add a gentle compressor to glue the song together.
- Add a limiter last, and raise the level until the loudest parts just start to feel squashed, then back off.
- Compare to a song you like at the same volume. Judging at equal volume is the most important habit.
It is the final polish on a finished mix that sets the tone, loudness and consistency so the song is ready for release.
It evens out the tone, tightens the dynamics, raises the loudness and checks that the song sounds good on different speakers. It makes small changes to the whole song, not to single instruments.
Yes. An EQ, a gentle compressor and a limiter are the core tools. Check your work on headphones, speakers and a phone.
No. It can only make broad, small changes. Fix problems with a single part in the mix, or split the song into parts and rebalance them first.
No. It separates songs into parts such as vocals, drums and bass. If a mix problem needs fixing before mastering, splitting costs 1 credit per minute of song for most tools.