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The goal of mastering is to provide the best possible end product, in the most broad sense. It's the icing on the cake. There's more to it than that, obviously.

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Some main points of mastering are:

• Making the song comparable tonally, emotionally, and volume-wise to other songs that are similar or in the same album

• Paying attention to and addressing the dynamics of the song (from how loud the chorus is to the verse, to volume variations from note to note)

• Paying attention to and addressing how much the song will be turned down by streaming services like Spotify, iTunes, etc. from normalization (streaming services try to keep all songs around the same volume, and to do this they turn them down by a certain amount)

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The mastering engineer addresses these points through the use of loudness meters, EQ, compression, and other audio processing on usually just one stereo file of the mix.

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Generally, the mastering engineer wants to remain as unnoticeable as possible. There are exceptions of course, if the song or audio calls for it. For example, a rock song that is pretty dynamic (dynamic meaning volume jumps high to low a lot, either from section to section or even between notes) could benefit from a hard hitting compressor. It gives (can give) a punchier sound to the overall mix, which the song may call for.

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Usually you'll want another mastering engineer that's different from your mixing and/or recording engineer because they'll have fresh ears to the material. After listening for even a few times your ears can be tricked and fatigued to the material, making the process that much harder. If the material is going to be mastered by the same person as the mix or recording engineer, make sure you/they take good breaks between stages to reset your ears. Probably even a week minimum.

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It's pretty important to have decent, calibrated monitors and a good sounding room for mastering, so you can not only hear what needs to be improved, but also so you don't make the wrong moves; that can be half the battle when trying to master with sub-optimal environments.

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First and foremost, make sure the song REALLY IS ready for mastering. No timing mistakes, no tuning mistakes, everything is mixed how you want it to sound BEFORE it even hits the mastering engineer's inbox. You'll want the mastering engineer to do as little as possible in order for the engineer to do his/her best.

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The mastering engineer will need ONE, stereo file of the mix, in the highest quality possible. At the minimum, a .wav file with a 44.1kHz sample rate and at a bit depth 16 bits will be accepted; this is CD quality and will be what the mastering engineer will hand back as the main file. Generally an mp3 file will also be provided. Preferred quality is 44.1 kHz or higher sample rate and 24 bits for songs, and 48kHz or higher sample rate at 24 bits for songs that will be used in a video.

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The files you get back (from Fretless Studios at least) will always be 44.1 kHz at 16 bits with an mp3 version, unless the song will be used in video at which case will be 48 kHz at 24 bits. Always use the 44.1 kHz 16 bit version for streaming services, as it is a standard.

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Before exporting this stereo file, make sure the levels do not cross 0 dB, otherwise it will distort once exported. You should even lower the volume by a few more dB (doesn't have to be much if you aren't already peaking at 0) to leave some headroom for the mastering engineer to work with.

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If there is any processing on the stereo output, it's okay to leave it on there, as long as you are absolutely sure it benefits the song AND the mastering engineer can't do it better. Usually for compressors on the whole mix, it's just best to leave it to the mastering engineer.

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So to recap, you'll need to:

• provide one .wav stereo file at 44.1kHz or higher sample rate and 16 or 24 bits bit depth

• make sure you are not clipping the file at any point of the material

• make sure all processing on the mix bus absolutely benefits the song, otherwise leave it to the mastering engineer

• let Fretless Studios know if the file is intended to be used in a video!

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What you'll receive back:

• one .wav file at 44.1kHz + 16bits and one mp3

• for video, along with the above, one .wav file at 48kHz + 24 bits

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Happy music-ing!

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