Mastering is the final step in the music production process. It is the polish that will make your track really shine. In the following post we’ll be outlining what Mastering is in the first place, why it’s an important step to get your track ready for release and how Splash Pro’s latest feature can help get your track sounding beautifully produced.

What is music mastering?

Mastering is the process of preparing, finalising and optimizing a recorded track for distribution and playback across all audio formats. This includes things like adjusting levels, applying stereo enhancement, improving frequencies and monitoring any extraneous sounds that could distract the listener from the music.

Mastering vs Mixing

Here’s an easy way of distinguishing between the two:

• Mixing happens at the start of the post-production process - Mixing is where each of the separate tracks in a session are balanced and tweaked to make them sound better as a cohesive whole.
• Mastering happens at the end of the post production process - Mastering is concerned with the track as a finished product and is focused on the listening experience for the audience. Mastering not only enhances the audio quality, but ensure consistency across all playback systems.

Why is Mastering important?

Sound Enhancement:

Mastering can significantly enhance the audio quality of a track. It can bring out hidden nuances, improve clarity, and provide a balanced frequency spectrum. This ensures that your music sounds fantastic whether it's played on a high-end studio system or through earbuds.

Consistency:

Mastering ensures that all tracks on an album or EP have a consistent sonic character. It ensures that the bass levels, dynamics, and overall tonality match across all songs, creating a unified listening experience.

Loudness Optimization:

Mastering also addresses the issue of loudness. Engineers use limiters to prevent the track from distorting while maximizing the volume level, making it competitive in today's music market.

Compatibility:

Different playback systems, from home stereos to car radios to streaming platforms, have unique characteristics. Mastering ensures that your music translates well across various platforms and retains its impact.

Benefits of AI Mastering

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has made significant inroads into the music industry, and mastering is no exception. AI mastering is a cutting-edge technology that uses machine learning algorithms to automate parts of the mastering process. Here's why AI mastering has gained popularity:

Efficiency:

AI mastering can save time and money by automating certain tasks. It quickly analyzes the audio and applies appropriate processing, reducing the need for extensive manual adjustments.

Consistency:

AI mastering tools maintain a consistent sound quality across multiple tracks, ensuring uniformity throughout an album.

Accessibility:

AI mastering platforms are accessible to musicians and producers worldwide, democratizing the mastering process. You no longer need a top-tier studio or an experienced engineer to achieve professional results.

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AI Mastering is most useful for music enthusiasts and content creators who may not have the networks or the capital to get skilled audio engineers to master their work. In these cases, Splash Pro is the perfect tool - it not only helps you create unique, incredible-sounding music in minutes, it allows you to download mastered tracks with the click of a button.

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What will you create next?

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