Is Mastering Your Music Project Really That Important?

This question comes up a lot, mostly by rookies because it cost extra money and it’s a process that can be quite complicating for the inexperience. 

Should I master my music after mixing? The answer is simple, YES. 

This is just one part of the recording process, but possibly one of the most important. What you hear coming from your DAW into your monitor speakers or headphones will not be the same once it’s played in MP3 or CD format. Also let’s say you burn your music to CD, listen to it and you like what you hear, since all music devices are different they will play them differently. 

Essentially, what mastering does for your music is it gives it all round correct accuracy and clarity when played at any level on any device. 

Now, as a rookie, should you attempt this process by yourself? You can, but doing it successfully is up to you and how serious you take it. If you go at this process with no idea of what you’re doing, then you may as well just leave it as is. 

But, if you’re willing to take some time and learn by (tutorials, videos, books, websites and hands on experience with a professional) you may get the knowledge you need to tackle this process and be successful at it. 

If you do decide to take it seriously and try to master by yourself, you will need to invest in an outboard software mastering program such as IZOTOPE. This is an industry standard program that I found to be the best as far as user friendless, it was also what we were required to use while I attended school for engineering.

Tip:  These are your three different major mastering procedures you should look-up and study.

1. Multi-Band Compression

2. Parallel Compression

3. General Compression and Brick Wall.