Welcome to Mastering week

When it comes to mastering, there are many schools of thought. Some believe that it can only be done properly by an experienced professional in a high-spec studio, while others think that they can do the job perfectly well at home with the help of their plugin collection. There are those who choose to take the human element out of the equation, handing over responsibility to an online ‘auto-mastering’ service, while plenty of musicians never actually bother to master their music at all.

Whatever your level of experience or understanding, we hope that MusicRadar’s Mastering week will help. If you don’t know what mastering is, we’ll try to answer all of the questions that you were too afraid or embarrassed to ask, and to explain why it’s important. If you do have some knowledge but want to improve your skills, our tips and tutorials should enable you to do just that.  

We’ll be updating this page with links to new articles as they’re published, so check back frequently to ensure that you don’t miss anything.

Mastering week

What is mastering?

How to prepare a multitrack mix for mastering

12 things to remember when you're mastering

8 mastering myths debunked

How to set up a mastering chain in your DAW

How do I master my music for streaming and download services?

9 pro mastering tips for beginners

Watch a track being mastered by a pro from start to finish

How to use a brickwall limiter in a mastering chain

How to choose the right mastering EQ

12 essential pro mastering tips

Understanding dynamic range and compression when mastering

How to master an 'unfixable' mix

How to use mid/side EQ for mastering

Jupiter Ace on how to master in Ableton Live

SPONSORED: Plugin Alliance offers you all the tools you need to create pro-quality masters at home

SPONSORED: Master and release your music the easy way with LANDR

MusicRadar

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GEAR: We help musicians find the best gear with top-ranking gear round-ups and high-quality, authoritative reviews by a wide team of highly experienced experts. TIPS: We also provide tuition, from bite-sized tips to advanced work-outs and guidance from recognised musicians and stars. STARS: We talk to musicians and stars about their creative processes, and the nuts and bolts of their gear and technique. We give fans an insight into the craft of music-making that no other music website can.