Before any creative decisions are made, before equalization, compression, or loudness targets, every file that arrives goes through a scientific evaluation. The very first step is not about sound quality…

Most people mastering at home are not working in a $500,000 purpose-built mastering studio. Instead, they are navigating a listening environment shaped by compromise—limited space, shared rooms, imperfect acoustics, and…

When discussing analog versus digital signal processing, the conversation becomes especially nuanced in the realm of dynamics processing—and more specifically, compression. While digital processing has made extraordinary strides over the…

Dynamic Range Day exists to bring wider awareness to what has become known as the loudness wars. There are countless resources, articles, and discussions focused on records being too loud,…

Stereo processing, at its core, is not just about two speakers playing sound. It’s about how the human ear interprets direction, space, and depth based on timing, phase, and similarity…

Reverb is often associated with tracking and mixing, but it also plays a quiet yet meaningful role in mastering. In some cases, its use is obvious. In others, it’s far…

Compression is one of those tools that almost everyone uses, but very few people truly understand in the context of mastering. While compression plays a visible role in mixing, its…

Before talking about how equalizers are used in mastering, it’s important to understand why equalizers were invented in the first place. Equalizers were not originally creative tools. They were problem-solvers.…

The classic definition of mastering is that it is the last creative step and the first step in the distribution of a program. That definition carries more weight than it…

Mastering music is incredibly interesting and, on occasion, equally challenging. It is a technical job designed to translate a recording across multiple mediums and playback systems. At the same time,…