HOW TO

STEREO MASTER
A SONG

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 CONTENTS

Introduction 3

What is Stereo Mastering? 4

Preparing a Mastering Session 4

Preparing Yourself 6

Mastering Phase 9

Begin With Loudness 9

EQ 12

Compression 15

Extra Processing 17

Revisit Loudness 19
Final Listen and Quality Control 19

Bouncing The Audio 21

Checklist 22

Thank you! 23

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 Introduction

Hello!

Thank you for downloading this eBook! I hope you get inspired with some fresh new
ideas to inject into your mastering sessions.

Mastering The Mix’s single driving goal is to help music producers get better sounding
mixes. We do this primarily through free education on our blog and social media.

In this eBook, you’ll learn the essential steps of how to stereo master a song. This
guide can be applied to any genre of music and will give you a foundational
understanding of how to approach stereo mastering. 

You’ll see some of our plugins get mentioned, they’ve helped countless music
producers get better sounding masters and I know they can do the same for you too.
Download the free trials for Mac / Windows and follow along with the instructions in this
eBook.

Enjoy, and get your music sounding better than ever!

Tom Frampton
Director
Mastering The Mix

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 What Is Stereo Mastering?

Stereo mastering is the process of taking a single file of a final mix and preparing it
for release. The primary task is to adjust the overall loudness of the song and correct
any tonal balance imperfections. It’s also common to apply additional processing to
enhance the sound as much as possible.

Preparing a Mastering Session

Begin by opening your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and importing the mix into
your session. Set the BPM of the project to match the mix file; most DAW’s have a BPM
(beats per minute) meter to identify this if you don’t know it.

Load up the plugins you’ll be using on your stereo output. There are 5 essential
plugins for mastering that should be present in your mastering chain in the following
order: Gain, EQ, Compressor, Limiter, Meter.

There are many additional plugins that can help enhance the sound that can be
inserted into your chain, for example, a stereo spreader, tape saturation, harmonic

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distortion, etc. Your decision to use these additional plugins will be based on the mix
itself and the sound you are trying to achieve.

The final step of preparing the session is to ensure the file has enough headroom.
The headroom is the space between the highest peak of the audio and 0dBFS
(decibels full scale). Leaving headroom during mixing is a good practice as it keeps the
dynamics and transients of the audio unimpaired. 

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 When mastering, the headroom gives you the flexibility to adjust the EQ without
potentially pushing the audio too loud into the following plugins. Open up your
metering plugin, then preview the loudest section of the mix and use the gain plugin
(the first insert on your master channel) to adjust the peak of the audio to anywhere
between -3dB and -6dB on your peak meter.

Preparing Yourself

Getting yourself in the right frame of mind will help you make better mastering
decisions. Jumping into tweaking the EQ prematurely without a clear sonic direction
can end up worsening the sound.

Listening to a song for the first time is a unique experience. If you’re mastering your
own song then you won’t have this privilege as you will have heard your song many
times whilst creating it. If you’re working on a song you haven’t heard before, take the
opportunity to experience and enjoy it as a consumer will. 

Before you monitor the mix again, take a listen to one or two great-sounding
reference tracks that have a comparable genre, instrumentation, and vibe to the mix.

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The reference tracks should be a good representation of your sonic goal for this final
master. 

Listening to these references at this stage will give you a good frame of reference for
what a great master should sound like before you start making changes to your
master processing. Be sure to match the perceived loudness of the reference tracks to
the loudness of the mix to make sure the comparison is fair.

See How Our Plugin REFERENCE Can Help You Get Your Masters Sounding More
Like Your Favourite Tracks

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 For the second listen, take a more analytical approach and make a note of the
aspects of the track that you feel need to change to get the mix sounding more like
your reference tracks. Get a feel for how the low-end sits in the context of the overall
mix and how the balance compares to the reference track. Do the same with the mid
and high frequencies. 

By identifying the main changes you feel are needed, you’ve created a sonic vision
and a clear target to shoot for. This will keep your mastering decisions focused and
efficient. 

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 Mastering Phase

There are many ways to approach mastering. How you structure your process will
ultimately be down to your preferred workflow. Use the following advice as your
foundation but feel free to tweak the workflow to suit your style. Just be sure that your
preferences don’t hinder the quality of the audio or introduce technical issues. 

Begin With Loudness

Your metering plugin should give you a LUFS (loudness units full scale) reading. This
measurement gives an accurate depiction of the perceived loudness of the audio as
it’s based on how the human ear experiences loudness relative to the frequency
spectrum. 
Different distribution mediums have varying ‘optimum levels’ for loudness and dBTP
(decibels true peak). For example, streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube
stream audio at about -14LUFS integrated, which is roughly 8 decibels quieter than the
loudest releases. 

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 If you submit a loud and heavily compressed song at -6LUFS, Spotify will turn it down
to -14LUFS, but the damage done by over-limiting is irreversible. It would be advisable
to create a less-loud-more-dynamic master that didn’t need to be turned down so
much and avoid the issues introduced by over-limiting. 

See How Our Plugin LEVELS Can Help You Monitor The Techincal Details Of Your
Audio

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 A true-peak meter displays the peak of the audios signal once the digital audio has
been converted into an analog signal that can be heard through speakers. This is more
accurate and relevant in real-world use than the meters that you see on your DAW
mixer which displays the reading of the digital sample peak. Often the sample peak is
more ‘forgiving’ and your music ends up clipping in real terms when heard through
speakers. So it’s advisable to have a true peak meter to check this.

Regardless of the medium through which your audience will hear your music,
knowing how to control loudness and true-peak will empower you when mastering
audio.

Start by opening your metering plugin and your limiter. Set the limiter output to
-1.0dB to give your master some headroom. This will help minimize true peaks and also
accommodate any future conversion to lossy formats such as Ogg Vorbis and Mp3. 

Monitor the loudest section of your track and raise the limiter gain until your LUFS
short-term reading is hitting your target. This is a fairly quick and rough setting and you
can tweak it later. 

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 Setting the loudness before making any other changes to the sound has a number
of benefits. It helps highlight existing issues with the tonal balance, it’s easier to level
match to your references, and you reduce the risk of EQing your master in a way that is
incompatible with your loudness target. 

EQ
When you listened to the reference tracks, you established the tonal balance
direction you want to take for the song. So when you open your EQ you hit the ground
running and can make the first few adjustments very efficiently.
When adjusting the EQ, loop the section of the song that covers the widest range of
frequencies, often the drop/chorus. If you work on the verse (where the drums might be
quieter or the bass might not be present) you might overcompensate and boost the
low-end too much. 

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 Keep referring back to your reference tracks when adjusting the EQ to help you set
the perfect boost or attenuation amount. Mastering should be approached with
precision. Each EQ adjustment will have a sweet spot that you may miss if you’re 1dB
off.

For example, the low-frequency range is tricky to get perfect. Too much of a boost in
the low-end and the master will sound muddy and lack clarity. Too much attenuation
of the low-end and the master will sound weak and thin. When you feel you have a
great setting, try sweeping through a range of around ±1dB and Q bandwidth to see if
there’s a close setting that sounds more musical.

See How Our Plugin BASSROOM Can Help You Get A Great Sounding Low-End
When Mastering

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 Generally speaking, you would want to go for broad Q bandwidths and EQ
adjustments no greater than around 3dB. If the adjustments are greater than this then
you may get more transparent results by adjusting individual elements in the original
mix before mastering. 

Rules can always be broken and it’s the results that count. If a master needs to have
a 6dB high-end boost to sound great then go for it. Sometimes it’s hard to hear what
EQ changes are needed for your master, which is why we created MIXROOM.

MIXROOM is an intelligent EQ that guides you to set the perfect balance of richness
and clarity whether you’re working on a vocal, a synth or mastering your music.
MIXROOM analyses your audio and shows you which frequencies could be adjusted to
improve your sound. The EQ target suggestion helps you get a solid starting point, from
which you can tweak your sound to suit your preference.

See How Our Plugin MIXROOM Can Help You Dial In The Perfect Balance Of
Richness And Clarity

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 When making EQ adjustments, be sure to adjust the output gain of the EQ to try and
match the output loudness to the input loudness. This will help you objectively decide
whether your EQ decisions are improving or deteriorating your sound when you bypass
the plugin.

Compression
(Note: Click here if you’re unsure about the different parameters within a
compressor and how they affect audio).

The compressor will reduce the volume of the audio that surpasses the threshold.
During mastering, compression is used subtly to control the dynamics, add color, and
thicken up sounds. 

As with setting the loudness and EQ, monitor the loudest section fo your track when
setting the compressor. If you set the threshold based on the volume of the verse, the
louder chorus would push the compressor to work too hard giving an unnatural sound. 

Over-compression is an incredibly fast way to ruin a mix. Squashing the transients

can suck the dynamics and emotion out of a track and reduce the impact of a drop or
chorus. To avoid this, dial in a low ratio of around 1.2:1 to 2:1 and a high threshold that
gives only 2 or 3dB of gain reduction. 

By only tickling the signal in this way, the compression will be transparent and
subtle. It will maintain the impact of the dynamic variation between the sections of

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your song. It will also help glue the sounds of your mix together, giving them a cohesive
sound.

Once your threshold and ratio are working well with your audio, you can tweak the
attack and release settings to help the compressor further complement your audio. 

If your attack is too fast, it will damage the sound of the transients of your audio,
such as the drums or first few milliseconds of a bass. It’s important to preserve these
transients to maintain an open and dynamic sounding master. Conversely, if your
attack is too slow, the compressor won’t react in time to the louder parts of the audio
that you want to reduce. 

A great starting point for the attack of your compressor is somewhere around 25-50
milliseconds. This leaves enough space for the short-sharp transients to poke through
the mix without being so long that the compressor doest react in time. You can tweak
from this starting point and use your ears and reference tracks to help you dial in a
setting that works well with your music.

The compressor release is equally important. If it’s too short, it can create a pumping
sound where the sound feels like it’s jumping in an unnatural way. If it’s too long, the
compressor will be in a constant state of gain reduction which, again, will sound
unnatural. 

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 Adjust the release so that the compressor returns back to a zero state (no gain
reduction) just before the next beat for a transparent and musical compressor setting.
If your compressor has a VU meter or any other visual, you should see the gain
reduction dancing in time with the music.

As a final check of the compressor settings, preview how the master flows from the
verse into the chorus and ensure it still has a positive dynamic impact. If the
compressor clamps down too hard on that first beat of the chorus then you may need
to increase the threshold to reduce the compression.  

Extra Processing
At this point, you’ve set the rough loudness, EQed and compressed your master, so it
should be well on it’s way to sounding how you envisioned. To bring out the maximum
potential in the sound, you may want to add some additional processing to enhance
the flavor, vibe, and character of the music. 

Stereo adjustments during mastering can help open up the sound whilst adding
clarity and definition to the track. Reducing the width of 0-250Hz so it’s mono can help
anchor the foundation of the track, reduce phase issues, and help it translate better on
all playback systems. Increasing the width of the higher frequencies can improve the
definition.

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 Over-boosting the overall stereo width of a mix can lead to phase issues so be sure
to open your metering plugin and keep an eye on your phase correlation meter. If the
correlation meter starts moving too far away from +1 you could be introducing audible
issues. Again, refer back to your reference tracks to try and get a comparable amount
of width.

Tape emulation and harmonic distortion plugins can be used to add subtle warmth
and take off the ‘digital edge’ of music. They do this by adding additional harmonic
content giving a richer and denser sonic character. This can also hype the sense of
energy in the master. 

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 As with most mastering processes, the key with tape and harmonic distortion is to
keep it subtle. Dial-in the effect so you can just about hear the effect, then slightly roll it
back for a great starting point. 

See How Our Plugin ANIMATE Can Make Your Music Sound Richer And Denser
When Mastering

The list of possibilities here is endless. There are plugins that can help you reduce
harshness, control your low-frequencies, increase the perceived loudness, add more
punch, and more. Experiment and see which tools help you get the sound you’re after. 

Revisit Loudness
With all the EQ, compression, and extra processing changes you’ve made, it’s
probable that the loudness and true-peak will have shifted from what you initially set.
Open your limiter and metering plugin and adjust where needed. 

Final Listen and Quality Control 

This is where you take a step back and look at the whole picture. Listen from start to
finish and see if there are any aspects of the master that you feel need a final tweak. 

As well as comparing the master to your reference tracks, you should also see how it
sounds against the original mix. Your mix will be much quieter than your master so
you’ll need to level match for a fair comparison. This is a great sanity check as it
ensures that you haven’t made the master sound worse than the mix.

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 Have your metering plugin open during this time so you can check for any issues. 

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 Bouncing the Audio

The final step is to export your audio so you have your new master file ready for
distribution. You’ve worked so hard up until this point it’s important to not undo your
work by bouncing your audio incorrectly. 

Select wav as the option for a high quality, lossless bounce. 

 
The sample rate should remain the same as your original mix file and mastering
session. There are no benefits to increasing the sample rate if the audio was not
originally recorded and produced at a higher rate. 

The bit depth/resolution refers to the dynamic range scale of the audio. 24bits is the
most widely accepted resolution for online distribution. 16Bit is the format needed for
CD and some online platforms that have not yet adopted 24bit. Stick with 24bit where
possible.

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 Dithering is a technical topic, but in a nutshell, it’s only necessary to dither the audio
if you’re reducing the bit depth. So if your mix file was 24bit, and you want to create a
16bit master, you would need to dither. If your mix was 24bit and you’re bouncing a
24bit master, you don’t need to dither.

Normalization raises the volume so your audio is peaking at 0.0dB. You’ve already
controlled the peak level using the output of your limiter so you don’t want to apply any
normalization. It would almost certainly bring about true peak issues. 

Offline bouncing when mastering is usually fine and more time-efficient for
mastering. Real-time can be useful if you want to have another final listen to your
master.

Checklist

Save this checklist to remind you of what you’ve learned here and ensure consistent
results when you master your tracks.

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 Thank You!

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