Beginner Guide

What Is Audio Mastering?

Every song you've ever heard on Spotify, Apple Music, or the radio — has been mastered. It's the last step between a finished mix and a professional release. If you've never mastered your music, this is the one thing that will make the biggest difference.

Mastering is what separates a demo from a release.

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The Simple Explanation

Mastering in Plain English

When you finish recording and mixing a song, you have a stereo audio file — left channel and right channel, everything blended together. That's your mix. But it's not ready for the world yet.

Mastering takes that file and does three things: it sets the loudness to match streaming standards, it polishes the tone so the song sounds full and balanced on any speaker, and it ensures the track translates consistently — whether someone is listening on Airpods, a car stereo, a Bluetooth speaker, or a club PA.

Think of it as the quality control pass. The final stamp of approval before your music goes public.

🔊
Loudness
Mastering sets your track's loudness to match streaming standards (LUFS). Without it, your song plays quieter than everything else in the playlist.
🎨
Tonal Balance
The bass, mids, and highs are balanced so your song sounds good on any speaker — not just your studio monitors.
📱
Playback Consistency
Mastering makes sure your track sounds right everywhere — earbuds, car speakers, laptop, club system. The same song, every time.
Streaming Ready
Platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube have loudness targets. Mastering hits those targets so your song competes on equal footing.
Mixing vs Mastering

What's the Difference Between Mixing and Mastering?

Mixing happens inside your DAW (GarageBand, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Ableton). You're balancing individual tracks — turning the vocals up, bringing the drums in, panning the guitars. At the end of mixing, you export a stereo file.

Mastering works on that exported stereo file. You're no longer touching individual elements — you're treating the whole song as one. You're making it loud, polished, and consistent.

The order is always: Record → Mix → Master → Release.

1
Recording
Capture the vocals, instruments, and samples. This is the raw material.
2
Mixing
Balance everything together — levels, EQ, compression, effects, panning. Export a stereo file.
3
Mastering
Polish the stereo file — loudness, tone, dynamics, streaming compatibility. This is the release-ready version.
4
Release
Upload to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, or wherever your audience is.

AI Mastering in Under 60 Seconds

You don't need to book a studio. You don't need to know what a limiter does. Upload your finished mix to Dhun and the AI handles everything — loudness, tone, streaming compatibility — automatically. Your first master is completely free.

Upload your mix and get a mastered track in under 60 seconds
Genre-aware — works for hip hop, EDM, Bollywood, pop, R&B
Targets the right loudness for Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube
No settings, no experience required
First master is completely free
↑ Master My Track Free
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Your Song Deserves to Sound Professional.

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Questions

FAQ

Technically Spotify will accept an unmastered track, but it will sound noticeably quieter and less polished than everything around it. Every professional release on Spotify is mastered — yours should be too.
You can attempt it with plugins like iZotope Ozone, but it takes years of experience to do it well. AI mastering tools like Dhun remove the technical barrier entirely — upload your mix and the AI does the work.
Spotify targets -14 LUFS, Apple Music -16 LUFS, YouTube -14 LUFS. For hip hop and EDM, artists often push to -9 or -10 LUFS. Dhun sets the right level for your genre automatically — you don't need to know the numbers.
WAV is best. Export your mix as a 16-bit or 24-bit WAV at 44.1kHz or 48kHz. Avoid MP3 for the source file — you want maximum quality going into mastering. Dhun accepts both WAV and MP3.
Mixing balances all the individual tracks in your project into a stereo file. Mastering takes that stereo file and prepares it for release — setting loudness, polishing tone, and ensuring consistency across all playback devices.
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