audio mastering
Sound's final refinement
Audio mastering is the final stage of music production, where a mixed recording is polished and prepared for distribution.
The mastering engineer adjusts overall levels, equalization, and dynamics to ensure the track sounds consistent across different playback systems—from earbuds to club speakers.
A well-mastered album maintains sonic coherence from track to track: The vinyl remaster sounds warmer than the original CD.
Making things uniform
- compressionForcing into smaller space
- limitingPlacing restrictions upon
- thresholdPoint of beginning
- ratioComparative numerical relation
attack · release · knee · dynamic range · headroom · frequency response · transients · dithering
Perceived sound intensity
- warmthHeat you feel
- punchStrike with fist
- clarityState of being understandable
- presenceState of being somewhere
air · depth · width · balance · glue · cohesion · transparency · coloration
Determining element order
- fadesGrows gradually weaker
- crossfadesGradual audio overlaps
- metadataDescriptive information about content
- revisionAltering to improve
Lossy audio compression standard
- WAVUncompressed audio file type
- FLACLossless audio compression format
- transcodingMedia format conversion process
- codecData compression algorithm
equalization
Making things uniform
- compressionForcing into smaller space
- limitingPlacing restrictions upon
- thresholdPoint of beginning
ratio · attack · release · knee · dynamic range · headroom · frequency response · transients · dithering · bit depth
loudness
Perceived sound intensity
presence · air · depth · width · balance · glue · cohesion · transparency · coloration · character
sequencing
Determining element order
- fadesGrows gradually weaker
- crossfadesGradual audio overlaps
- metadataDescriptive information about content
MP3
Lossy audio compression standard
- WAVUncompressed audio file type
- FLACLossless audio compression format
- transcodingMedia format conversion process
metering
Controlled measurement of quantity
audio masteringrecording
Captured audio or video
tracking · mixing · pre-production · live recording · demo recording
audio masteringrough mix
Unfinished audio arrangement
demo · rough cut · scratch track · lo-fi recording · field recording
audit, audible, audition, audio, mastering, auditorium, inaudible, auditor, auditory