We’ve written before about the risks involved with using a limiter on your master bus, but in general, putting any effect on your master bus will make sweeping changes to your mix. There’s lots of free mastering tutorials out there that claim you can master a track using a limiter, but in reality, you can do a lot more damage than good very quickly. It’s pretty obvious that releasing an unmastered track is a pretty bad idea.īut what about these tutorials and hacks that make it seem like you can make a good master using a limiter or some form of extreme compression?Īfter all, if mastering is all about making sure your track is as loud as possible without clipping, then all you have to do is throw a limiter on your master bus and slam it to max headroom.

So if you choose to release your track without mastering it, there’s a good chance it won’t sound very good once it hits streaming platforms or the speakers in your car. Instead mastering is all about making your track sound loud, dynamic, uniform and polished on any speaker. Yes-to the untrained listener, a mastered track won’t sound much different to your final mix.īut in many ways that’s the point, mastering shouldn’t change anything about what’s happening in your mix. Remember: most people will listen to your track with earbuds, car stereos, Bluetooth speakers and whatever else. The problem is mastering (among other things) takes the sound coming out of your studio monitors and helps it translate well on other speaker mediums.Įffectively, mastering gives your tracks the chance to sound the best it can in every possible situation. I mean, you’ve put all this work into mixing your album and it sounds great on those monitors in your studio so why bother? The most obvious solution to not wanting to pay for a good master is to just not master your track at all. Here’s why these 5 free mastering hacks will never result in a good master.

Sure, there’s all kinds of hacks out there that make it seem like you can learn to master your music for free.īut, unless you have a lot of experience these techniques are questionable at best. If you’re having sticker shock and don’t think paying for good mastering is worth it, you might want to reconsider. That’s why most artists pay for some form of mastering service, whether that’s by hiring a professional human engineer or paying for an AI mastering service. Our powerful, AI-driven mastering engine listens to your song and delivers pristine, studio-quality music that’s ready for release.

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