Mastering chain

Mastering is the essential last step in music production. A mastering engineer takes a mix and makes it sound right for a particular purpose. Typically, the mix is equalized, so it has all the necessary frequencies. Dynamics are then adjusted, to minimize the differences between softer and stronger parts of the recording, and finally compression is added and a limiter is employed to make the overall sound louder, a method that is now very popular. We will present one of the many ways to do this.

A question I get asked all the time is “what’s your mastering chain ?” – meaning

What order do you put your processing in, when mastering ?

So for what it’s worth, here is the answer. I’ve worked like this ever since I was first trained as a mastering engineer, and it applies whether I’m in the studio with clients or working on my own stuff at home. 90% of the time, my chain is:

1. Gain
2. EQ
3. Compression
4. Limiting

However this isn’t set in stone, by any means ! Here’s a more detailed list – I only use the items in italics occasionally, not on every project.

1. Gain
2. EQ
3. Stereo processing
4. Compression
5. EQ
6. Gain
7. Soft clip
8. Limiting

Stereo processing

This is probably the most likely of these options – a fair number of projects benefit from a little extra width or depth in the image, or tightening up slightly. There’s nothing fancy about this – I just boost the mid or side signal slightly as necessary.

Rarely I might use some M/S processing, too, or only work on the width of a certain frequency range. Once in a blue moon I might use M/S compression, but this is a real last-resort and only where a remix isn’t an option.

EQ & Gain after compression

I think this counts more as a preference, really – EQ and gain after compression have a very different effect on the sound.

Before compression, EQ & gain changes are harder to hear, because the compression itself works against them. For example, if a kick drum is too high in the mix, or contains too much low-frequency energy, it can cause more pumping than you would like.

Cutting the frequency where most of it’s energy is before compression will reduce the pumping. Cutting it after compression won’t affect the pumping, but will still balance the EQ.

In general, EQ and gain after compression have to be used in much smaller increments. +/- half a dB before compression may go unnoticed, whereas after compressing to release levels it can be like night and day.

Soft clipping / saturation

This can be via the compression or limiting processing, or by pushing high-quality analogue gear hard. This isn’t recommended with budget A/D converters, or any analogue gear where headroom is in short supply, though ! It’s not necessary on every job, but sometimes it’s just what the doctor ordered.

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