Mastering is the final stage of work on a track, which implies the elimination of minor problems that arose at the stage of recording and mixing, enriching its sound and ensuring the portability of the material to the widest range of playback systems. As a result of mastering, the track sounds great on all types of equipment and is completely ready for release.
High-quality mastering of a track should be carried out by an experienced mastering engineer in a professional studio with world-class equipment. Only in this case the track will sound as high quality as possible.
The room in which the mastering is carried out matters: a well-designed studio room provides the most correct and adequate control over the sound. The professionalism of a mastering engineer combines fine ear, exceptional attention to every detail, technical dexterity, years of experience in mixing and mastering tracks. The importance of the best equipment is self-explanatory.
However, the most important guarantee of a good result is the quality of the source material (sound recording of vocals / instruments, written arrangement, mixed track). The recording of the performer’s voice has its own characteristics, the observance of which ensures the absence of acoustic defects. Proper mixing should also be done by a professional in order to avoid gross errors in the balance of instruments, distortions on individual elements of the track, excessive compressions and reverberations, etc. At the stage of mastering, it is impossible to correct absolutely all mistakes made in the previous stages of creating a track, respectively, the better the track before mastering, the better it will sound after it.