Mastering Explained - How To Master A Song

What is mastering in music? How do you master a song? This video will explain what mastering is and how it's used in music. We will look at the difference between mixing and mastering, and how the mastering chain is built up when mastering music.
In this video, we will show a mastering chain inside FL Studio, but the same mastering techniques can be used for any DAW. I will show you some quick examples of how to master a song using EQ, compression, saturation, stereo widening, and so on.
Mastering is the final step for any music producer. When a track is mixed down properly, it should be 99% finished. Mastering is the very last step of the process. Mastering will ensure that the song is brought up to commercial levels and that any problem frequencies and such are fixed. Mastering can fix certain problems in a mix, but it's not intended as a tool to fix a broken mix. That's not what mastering is about. Mastering is all about polishing the final mix. If your mix does not sound good before mastering, then mastering will not be able to save it. You should make sure that your mix is sounding as good as possible before mastering your song.
Note: This is a video about what mastering is, it's not intended as a dedicated mastering tutorial. The processing shown here is just some quick examples to show what will typically be used!
A dedicated mastering tutorial will come later.
00:00 introduction
00:17 The difference between mixing and mastering
00:43 What is mastering music?
02:42 How a mastering engineer works
03:32 can you master a song in a bedroom studio?
05:32 Typical mastering chain
05:37 How to master a song (EQ)
07:03 How to master a song (Compression)
07:43 How to master a song (Stereo width)
08:16 How to master a song (Saturation)
08:33 How to master a song (Limiting)
09:56 Mastering with Ozone and Online Mastering
The importance of MONO in your mix: • The Importance of MONO...
Compression Explained: • Audio Compression Expl...
How to prepare a track for mastering: • How To Make a PREMASTE...
How to EQ: • How To Mix (part 3): H...
✔️Ozone Elements: www.pluginboutique.com/produc...
✔️ Ozone Advanced: www.pluginboutique.com/produc...
✔️Tonal Balance www.pluginboutique.com/produc...
✔️ Fabfilter Pro Q3: www.pluginboutique.com/meta_p...
✔️ Fabfilter Pro C2: www.pluginboutique.com/produc...
✔️ Fabfilter Pro L2: www.pluginboutique.com/produc...
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XLR CABLES:
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[@FireWalkMusic]

✔️ Fabfilter Pro Q3: www.pluginboutique.com/meta_products/4957/?a_aid=5d496680b59cd ✔️ Fabfilter Pro C2: www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/8-Compressor/1756-FabFilter-Pro-C-2/?a_aid=5d496680b59cd ✔️ Fabfilter Pro L2: www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/9-Limiter/3955-FabFilter-Pro-L-2/?a_aid=5d496680b59cd ✔️ Ozone Elements: www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/50-Mastering-/5723-Ozone-Elements/?a_aid=5d496680b59cd ✔️ Ozone Advanced: www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/50-Mastering-/5717-Ozone-9-Advanced/?a_aid=5d496680b59cd ✔️ Tonal Balance Control: www.pluginboutique.com/products/6383/?a_aid=5d496680b59cd ✔️ More VST & Effect Plugins: pluginboutique.com/?a_aid=5d496680b59cd ✔️ Premium Loops And Sample Packs: www.loopmasters.com/?a_aid=5d496680b59cd -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ❤️ Support this channel on Patreon: www.patreon.com/firewalkmusic ❤️ Support us with a one-time PayPal donation: www.paypal.me/firewalkmusic ️🎹 Do you need professional feedback on your track? Mixing or mastering? Check out my gigs on Fiverr: www.fiverr.com/firewalk RECOMMENDED STUDIO GEAR: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Amazon links below) AUDIO INTERFACE: ☑️ Focusrite Scarlett Solo: geni.us/scarlettsolo-3rd-gen ☑️ Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 (3rd Gen): geni.us/scarlett-4i4 REFERENCE HEADPHONES: ☑️ AKG 612 PRO: geni.us/akg-k612pro ☑️ Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO: geni.us/DT-990-pro REFERENCE MONITORS: ☑️ 5": Yamaha HS5: geni.us/Yamaha-HS5 ☑️ 7": Adam Audio: geni.us/Adam-Audio-T7V ☑️ 8": Yamaha HS8: geni.us/Yamaha-HS8 SUBWOOFER: ☑️ KRK 10S2 V2: geni.us/krk-10s2v2 MICROPHONE: ☑️ Audio-Technica Cardioid Condenser Studio XLR Microphone: geni.us/at2020microphone ☑️ Vocal recording booth/stand for microphone: geni.us/microphonebooth XLR CABLES: ☑️ TISINO 35 ft Balanced XLR cable for mic: geni.us/xlr3ftoxlr3m ☑️ Monoprice 6 ft Balanced XLR Cable for monitors: geni.us/monoprice104761 SHORTCUT KEYBOARD: ☑️ Backlit FL Studio Shortcut Keyboard: geni.us/flstudio-keyboard ☑️Get The Complete Idiot's Guide To Music Theory Here: geni.us/idiotsguidemusictheory As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

[@entertainment_stuff1]

Firewalk you uploaded what i asked you for.. God bless you bro. You are one of a kind🙏

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome 🙂

[@TurkiAlbaqami]

I really like your videos man, well explained as always.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, glad you liked it! :)

[@PatrickObiang]

Awesome! Well Explained! Bravo!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, glad you liked it 😃

[@kevintran9321]

Awesome explanation! Thank you

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, you're welcome :)

[@mistaorienta5297]

Really helpful thank you!

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome! Glad you liked the video :)

[@zzzddd7]

Mastering Engineers have Mastering plug ins. It's a whole different plug in world, and with the experience, we do a much better job.

[@garyshirinian]

Thx for sharing. I only have waves plugins. Which plugins would you suggest for mastering limiter thx.

[@djred-x]

The best learning platform ❤️

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks 😀

[@emiel333]

Great video. Although I own (too) many plug-ins, I usually work with FabFilter plug-ins. Also a spatializer and spectrum analyzer. When I cannot use my studio monitors and use a headphone, I also use ToneBoosters Morphit 4.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi, thanks for stopping by! :) Yeah, I know what you mean. I have so many plugins myself and most of them never get used. I use perhaps 5% of the plugins I have. It's sometimes best to stick with a few good plugins that you know really well rather than getting new ones constantly. :) Some new plugins from time to time can help shape your sound though. I've had many different "favorites" over the years :)

[@nseesomnia]

Great Video! Thx!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! :)

[@SimonGM5]

very nice

[@DjClimamusic]

Hi there FireWalk 😁👍 Thanks again for sharing the information! 😊

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi, you're welcome! :)

[@4lifekickass100]

You’re the goat

[@djlaace1334]

Thank u. I think I finally understand a bit what mastering's like. Tho is it possible to do so with only a laptop and headphones?

[@FireWalkMusic]

Sure, you don't really need more than that really. It's not ideal of course, but it IS possible. Avicii used to do the final mixdown on a noisy plane, using headphones. The trick is to know how the mix will translate, and for that, you'll need experience. Mixing and mastering is easier on monitors because there are several issues to be aware of when mixing and mastering on headphones. I have a video that explains this in more detail here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5fak5KngLaBnrc

[@djlaace1334]

@@FireWalkMusic tnx again for the additional info

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@djlaace1334 You're welcome :)

[@joshsmith7812]

Not really, for proper mastering you need a Good DAC and good monitoring, you can do it on a laptop with headphones but then those headphones need to be really good and you need to have a really good dac paired with it. After that point it’s understanding what the trsck even needs in mastering, and at that point, just send it to a good engineer, even a student audio engineer, many are willing to work for free.

[@johnnyanko6051]

Thanks!

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome :)

[@justthecodeine1698]

Thx for the links

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome

[@music_creator_capable]

Good vidéo !

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi M_C_Capable! Thanks! :)

[@eonin]

Hey Firewalk, I have huge , brief and descriptive question to ask you ,hoping that I wud get a clarification on this matter as I get confused when people talk about signal to noise ratio could affect the the sound if compressor, saturation plugins are added, without monitoring the gain of a sound in that channel. Key terms:- No Bracket - Question [ ] - my thoughts in my mind { } - example ( ) - specific So my question is..... When to do gain staging ,is it while before producing [ {sound selection(high signal to noise ratio at least not clipping )as assuming it to be ,when fader of channel is at reset 0db.... because while producing we may use plugins like compressor, saturation on that sound in channel in a way that it can affect the high digital volume (not clipping) , means that plugins still receiving high gain signal even if volume fader is pulled down ]...or or or is it after producing and rendering the stems at -10db such that whole sum of stem's volume shows -6db in the master channel [ ignoring the digital volume stuff*** and signal technicalities and producing the music as I want till it's finished producing ]

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi, I actually have a dedicated video about gain staging here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZm6d6SpjplsY8k

[@bertdoorn3803]

great video Firewalk

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, glad you liked it 🙂

[@lukeroberts3464]

Does mastering also deal with cd 💿 runtime like 0:00 to 3:59?

[@lukeroberts3464]

And also mastering also has to fly through the whole entire track and also mastering has to check out the song 🎵 from start to finish.

[@glendaifill1608]

How do get distortion out.

[@lassevestby1491]

Hei! Er lite spørsmål :) Når jeg har volumet på monitorene mine i det jeg vil si behagelig\lavt volum så syntes jeg at jeg ikke får fulle lyden av ting i forhold til når jeg skrur dem mer opp. Jeg kan skru dem litt opp også plutselig er det lissom en mer hel lyd. Spesielt når jeg hører på samples/kicks osv. Hva tror du dette kommer av? Kan jeg ha for store monitorer? Kan det være lydkortet? Takker for svar :)

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hei, jeg pleier som regel alltid å stille dem til 50% (rett opp) også rører jeg dem ikke etter det, men justerer lyden fra lydkortet istedet. :)

[@lassevestby1491]

@@FireWalkMusic For å være ærlig så skjønner jeg ikke helt hva du mener med det? :P Jeg har bare plugga monitorene mine i lydkortet og det er det :P Burde jeg sette monitorene på 50 prosent?

[@JimiWaggs]

I was imagining that the blonde person gesturing to the guy nodding at 3:30 was like an alien in human disguise and was hired to do this video and was given the instruction, "Just talk like a human would." And they were like: 🤸🏼💃🏼

[@deveyous6614]

And there was me thinking it was a fix all solution for all my mixing failures 😂😬

[@FireWalkMusic]

It's a common belief :) You'd be surprised how many times I've heard people say: Don't worry about it, It'll be fixed during mastering. It's always best to fix issues in the mix itself so that you can do as little as possible to the mix during mastering. Imagine you have some leads that need more midrange for example. You then boost the midrange during mastering, but that will also bring up the midrange of the percussion, the vocals, and everything else in the mix that has midrange frequencies (which is just about everything). It will enhance the leads, but at the same time make everything else that doesn't need more midrange worse, because they will end up with too much midrange, and you'll also end up cluttering that space. So instead of making the leads stand out in that area (which was the intention), that area is now a bit too convoluted because you've brought up all the mid-range frequencies of every element in the mix, causing them to fight for space in the mix. So you fix one thing, but at the same time you mess up lots of other things. :)

[@layesh_______]

🙌😍

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you liked the video 😀

[@hatesounds702]

awesome video

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! Glad you liked it 🙂

[@lukeroberts3464]

Make sense.

[@Just-gt9oo]

👍

[@julesbarents1197]

Do you have a video about mixing?

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi, yes I have many videos about mixing. Check out my how to mix playlist here: kzbin.info/aero/PLHXwArmcoXThzspl4cn9e2rqbxyFWrC7q

[@gabebarmerii]

💰

[@n0de_punk735]

I understand why it's not a good idea to over listen to your music... I've watched this video two or three times and I can't unheard the Ghostbusters theme from the lead

[@ManLikeHugo]

3:29 acting 👌

[@FireWalkMusic]

😎

[@SimonGM5]

is this the mix and mastering series?

[@FireWalkMusic]

Check out my mixing playlist

[@lukeroberts3464]

What about backing a cake.

[@2190studio]

My mixes do go as high as -7 db, but on phones it fails to stand up to others in loudness. What could be the reason.

[@Lordsofchaospodcast]

Perceived loudness with harmonic enhancers

[@2190studio]

How do I deal with this.

[@rikyjacho9653]

tonal balance control is broken. try analysing a track with tbc and then use as a reference the same track that u are analysing. tbc's balances will be all over the place. the concept behind tbc is nice, but it doesn't work like that in practice, maybe on later updates they will improve it. don't trust a plugin that tells u how u should do ur work, especially broken ones. improve ur skills and make decisions by urself, that's the most important thing when it comes to mastering.

[@JostSchwider]

👍 - _also_ for the YT algo! 😊

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you liked it :)

[@rikkistarrett307]

I briefly appear in this video :)

[@rikkistarrett307]

*several times I recomment the mastering gig. All tracks on my channel were mastered by FireWalk...

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi! Glad to see you around here :) Indeed, there are quite a few reviews from you as of late, and thanks for your business. Really glad to hear that you're happy with the masters! :)

[@FernandoCastillo-og7ze]

What do you think about mastering your own track? Is it possible or is a waste of time in terms of you already mixed your stuff perfectly and you are happy with the sound?

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi, there's nothing wrong with that. If you're happy with how it sounds, then that's the most important thing. A perfectly mixed track should in theory only need an EQ and a limiter to bring it up to the correct loudness (and prevent clipping).

[@feggyo]

The perfect mix only needs a limiter. If the mix requires equalization, it is not perfect :) If the mix is for streaming services only, just normalize the track instead of limiting

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@feggyo True! :) All though I think most engineers will probably add an EQ anyways, just to make sure there is some low-end cut off, and to ensure that those sub frequencies are mono (which you can easily do in the Fabfilter pro q3 btw). Normalization can work well on some tracks, but a note of caution there: If there are huge transients, like very loud effects and such, then the track will only get normalized to the level of the highest-peaking transient in the track. Everything else might sit several dB quieter than that, in which case the track might turn out too quiet. I generally recommend ensuring that the track is at least -14 dB Integrated LUFS when uploading to Spotify for example, that way you have more control of what it will sound like after upload. :) Another thing to consider is the fact that although the loudness war is not raging as before (fortunately), it has made lasting changes to the way many genres sound like. Take trance music for example. Most tracks will be quite heavily squashed still, simply because that compressed "feel" has become part of how that genre tends to sound like these days. If you were to release an extremely dynamic mix it would sound very different from all the others, and even though I believe dynamics are good, the average listener would probably think there was something odd with that track, because it's so different from the others. Sad but true. It seems like the loudness war has made some lasting damage to several genres. Compression is not all bad though. It's a tool like anything else, and when used right it can make things better. Some music actually sounds better when frequencies are brought up more, and it sounds fuller overall. It only becomes a problem when it's abused and overused. :) By the way, I have a video about the loudness war too for anyone interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oX2UZJVvnaiMoMU

[@feggyo]

@@FireWalkMusic this is all true, but it is very rare in popular music that the dynamic range of a song is bigger than the volume penalties of streaming services. Every use of a limiter means a loss of quality. A good sound engineer should ensure that this loss is not noticeable :) As far as genre differences are concerned, it is not forbidden to use a compressor or limiter during the mixing process :) Anyway I still love your vids!

[@zzzddd7]

There is always information missing in these Mastering vids. That's why I paid good money learning be from a Mastering Professional. A mastering engineer isn't subjective, he is Objective. We listen first... Then plot, turn knobs following rules, not emotion.

[@henryijeoma]

Do you think beatmakers should worry about mastering? Emphasis on beatmakers

[@FireWalkMusic]

Good question. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it because if you sell a beat, and someone wants to put vocals on top of an already heavily compressed track, it might not turn out too great. It's best to master the instrumental and the vocal together later on. However, I would probably do a quick master on the beat so that it sounds as good as possible for the preview (making sure it's not quieter than the competition etc). You can then inform the clients that it is not mastered, and specify why. or, go the extra mile and provide both a mastered and an unmastered version. That way they can decide for themselves. :)

[@Herosbeats]

@@FireWalkMusic What if you want to record on a mastered beat and you are able to use Lufs meters to check the levels first and know exactly how much you can cut down the beat for recording?

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@Herosbeats Shouldn't be a problem. As long as the master is not overly compressed and limited there shouldn't be any problems.

[@cedricblomhof6355]

Yeah but we have ozone9

[@joshsmith7812]

All I’m going to say is, leave mastering to mastering engineers, the single most important thing about mastering is having a fresh set of experienced ears on your project. If you’ve mixed a track in a room with bad acoustics or your headphones aren’t great, can you still get good results ? Yes but with difficulty, a good engineer will be able to bring out the best of what you’ve given them and make sure it’s in the right formats and up to standards for where that track is heading, let’s not de value how much professional mastering can bring to a track and let’s also not aim for less than stellar results if you’re serious about your music

[@tonynekrews]

You lost me at “a girl putting on her makeup” Sheesh

[@kevintran9321]

Mastering is all about those final tweaks to perfect the mix. I don't see what's wrong with that analogy?

[@psynuxx]

Skip to 2:20 if you don't need to learn how to wash a car.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Learning car washing is just a bonus ;) Did you know you're supposed to start from the bottom up? :P But seriously, I know that not everyone is going to need all the information in every video, which is why I've added chapters to the video so that everyone can find the most relevant sections. :) Some of the people watching this video just want to know what mastering actually is, in which case I believe the analogy will come in handy. Also, this part explains things such as mastering NOT being intended as a tool for fixing a broken mix, which is something I see a lot of people believe, so I for one think that one, in particular, is quite important :). For those who already do know what mastering is (and isn't), and just want to get to the processing aspects of it, they can just skip that part of course. :)

[@psynuxx]

@@FireWalkMusic Yeah I know and great vid for those that don't know. I just have a pet hate of 1-2 minutes of intro and explanation. Impatience is my forte. :)

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@psynuxx haha! Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I hate that too, and believe me, I really don't want to be "that guy".. :P I was watching a video about how to replace a timing belt on an Audi a while back and the guy spent 15 minutes talking about his dog... And I had to go to work in 40 minutes or so.. :\ I always try to keep things as straight to the point as I can. It's hard with these kinds of videos though, because the audience is so broad. Some people are complete beginners and don't know the first thing about the subject, and they typically want to know quite a bit about what it is and why you have to do this and that, etc. Then there are the others who do know what it is, but perhaps they've forgotten how to actually do something, and they just want you to get to the point as quickly as possible :) Needless to say, it's impossible to make everyone happy, but I typically try to aim for a middle ground, and hopefully, the chapters will help too. I actually have quite a few extremely short "to the point" videos as of late, which are typically less than 1 minute long. Just diving straight into how to perform certain functions :)

[@internetthingz8641]

This is how your mastering services sound? Yikes!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi, of course not :) This is just a video explaining what mastering actually is, it's not intended as a mastering tutorial. The processing shown is just a few seconds of quick tweaking intended to show what kind of plugins will typically be used during mastering. Mastering a track will take much longer and will involve much more fine-tuning and listening. It's not done in just a few seconds. I assumed people would get that, but I'll make sure to specify in the description. I will make a dedicated mastering tutorial at a later time. :) btw, If you want to know what my service actually sounds like then check out the reviews left by previous customers. I believe they speak for themselves. :)