Mixing vs Mastering

What’s the difference? In this article, we discuss the differences between the two and why both are essential to the music you make and that you hear every day.

If you’re not an engineer, you may or may not have heard of both of these processes until you finished a song production.

It seems to be a very common mystery, Mixing vs. Mastering, and as a result, there’s a lot of misinformation out there on the subject. You may have heard that they are basically the same, or that one or the other isn’t necessary.

In short:

1. Yes, the practices are different and accomplish different things in terms of enhancing the quality of a song

2. The difference between un-mixed and mixed, and un-mastered and mastered are very audible

3. The workflow and tools differs greatly between the disciplines
   

And before we go any further—yes, both are necessary to achieve a professional-sounding finished song.

Let’s start by defining each practice individually before comparing them.

What is mixing?

So you’ve recorded a bunch of parts, maybe some vocals, guitar and bass tracks, and drums. Maybe it’s different in your case, but this is a common example, and anyway, there will be multiple recordings of various instruments (or the same in many layers). Now what? It’s produced and arranged, but just listening to the tracks on top of one another, it doesn’t sound like a cohesive, finished song.

Mixing accomplishes just that—mixing the tracks together so that they sound good played together and feel cohesive, naturally complementing each other and fitting together into a song—nothing poking out too much or sounding sort of out of place, slapped on top, or even outright annoying.
A mix engineer will adjust the levels and panning of the tracks and use tools such as EQ, compression, and reverb (and many, many other things in most cases) to achieve this. They make the track sound rhythmically tight, emphasize important and exciting elements, and tame or correct things that can get out of hand or sound just plain bad—muddy, harsh, honky, thin, you name it.

EQ helps instruments fit into their own sonic space within the song and not compete with each other for clarity, definition, and the listener’s attention.

Compression controls the dynamics so nothing is shockingly loud and seemingly out of place. A great example is primarily the vocals. If you’ve heard uncompressed or under-compressed vocals on a track, you know what we’re talking about; something that hits you in the face when it shouldn’t and seems a bit out-of-control.

Effects like reverb and delay and other modulations make the mix exciting and interesting, and create a sense of space. Even distortion has its place! Anything that works.
Great mixers also use automation of all of these tools to create a dynamic soundscape that really grabs the listener.

In summary, mix engineers do two things:

1. Make the song cohesive

2. Make the song pleasant and exciting

What is mastering?

So what’s mastering? Sounds like mixing does everything we want already!

Well, that mixed song may sound amazing inside of the computer… but how do you get it to the world via streaming services (e.g. Spotify) or physical media (CDs, tapes, vinyl)?
It may sound great, but maybe not like what you expect from what you hear “on the radio.” And how can you be sure it will sound as good on the radio as it does out of your computer speakers/monitors?

That’s where a mastering engineer comes in.
They take a single finished stereo track, polish it up, make it maybe just a bit prettier sounding, get it LOUD (because loud is more good), and ensure it will translate as best as possible on the intended channels.

Alright, if you know anything about production or mixing, this may sound easy. They just slap some saturation, compression, EQ, and a limiter on one track and they’re done—piece of cake.
Right?

Not so fast.

They use these tools, yes, but to achieve harmony from one song to the next (in an album), or impress differently or better than similar material within the genre.

Not only that, but ensuring something translates well to every conceivable playback device/medium is hard.
The radio, Spotify on your phone, speakers at the grocery store, the nightclub where you blacked out, your grandma’s hi-fi system—they make sure it sounds right on ALL of them.

This often requires, similarly to mixing, a few things:

1. High-quality and properly tuned studio monitors (speakers)

2. The best-afforded set of headphones

3. Second most importantly: a great-sounding and acoustically-treated room (yes, it really does matter)

4. And most-importantly: a trained pair of ears. This piece of “gear” cannot be overstated!

If you’re curious to learn more about why a room and its acoustic treatment matters so much, stay tuned for a future article on this subject.

And then there’s the matter of “topping and tailing.” Basically how songs transition from one to another on an album or compilation. How do you go from a hyped-up track to a chill one or an anthem to a ballad?
That’s a whole other topic, and probably a subject of yet another article!

Whew, I’ve talked A LOT about mastering engineers and their game—and I’m primarily a mixing guy! But it’s because this part of the puzzle is so underrated and it deserves some time and respect.

OK, and there are still a few more things to consider…
What sample rate and resolution do your intended media require? What about metadata? Lossy format encoding methods?
I’ll end it here. You get the gist.

A note on stereo bus processing

Before we get to the overview/comparison, I just need to say that it’s a common misconception that processing the stereo bus and doing some slick limiting etc. is mastering.
It’s not.
I’m guilty of thinking this myself earlier in my career. It’s not to say a good mix engineer won’t process the stereo bus (they probably will), but that’s not all that goes into mastering.

Further comparison

Mixers receive multiple tracks vs. mastering engineers receive one.

The file organization, categorization, and grouping that go into mixing is HUGE;

File structure, labeling, color-coding, bussing, mixing, and sub-mixing…. mastering engineers don’t require this consideration.

Mixing is specific. Mastering is broad.

Mix engineers focus on each and every track individually and together. Mastering engineers look at the big picture.

A summary workflow of a mastering engineers may look like:

1. Listening - what does the song need to sound like its intended genre, but also set it apart? Does it even need any change at all??

2. Forensics - are there artifacts, clicks & pops, clipping, unwanted distortion that needs to be cleaned up? These can be cleaned up with tools like Izotope’s RX plugin (a favorite of ours).
   How about other rough spots where some fading or automation might be beneficial?

3. Sonic (not the hedgehog) - applying EQ, compression, saturation to approximate reference tracks, fit the genre, and achieve tonal balance. Izotope’s Ozone and Tonal Balance plugins are pretty much essential to this task for us.

4. Level-setting - Let’s get it LOUD. This is also actually harder than it sounds. Considerations for loudness include artistic preferences, genre, release format, and just the song itself! (Always the most important)
   For more information, see our article on Measuring Loudness

5. Forensics II Electric Boogaloo - Did we create any new problems with our processing or our moves? This could be just in one spot and touched up with RX, or require us to nearly start from scratch. In any case, an evaluative feedback loop is essential.

6. Metadata and export - I hate this part. It’s tedious, but you need to put track data in there! At least exporting the final product feels like a great accomplishment!

7. Part III Revenge of the QC - triple check to make sure that once something is exported, it sounds the way you intended. You’d be surprised by how different (and nasty) something could sound after exporting on certain playback systems!

Mixing is more obvious and changes processing is more drastic vs. Mastering is “broad strokes,” and generally more subtle.

Mixers may level, EQ, or compress upwards of 15db, filter things out entirely, gate stuff, and generally be very heavy-handed, and for good reason.
Mastering requires a light touch if the mix was done right, and moves over 1db are usually rare.
Mixing, the difference should hit you in the face. Mastering, the before and after should be nearly unnoticeable.

As we have discussed, mixing and mastering use many of the same tools and make similar sonic considerations, but approach the songs at a different point in time and from a completely different perspective and with different goals.
This is to your benefit: your mix engineer pores over every detail of your song for days or even weeks, shaping the statue from the block of stone, so to speak; your mastering engineer provides a swift and objective view to catch and correct any mistakes and still improve the product beyond where mixing left it.

By this point, hopefully you have a better idea of what mixing and mastering entail, and how they are different (but equally important).
Take this knowledge on your music production journey, and if you’d like to learn more, stay tuned to our site, or reach out to us.

If you’d like mixing and mastering for your music, check out our site and some of our samples, and contact us to learn more about promotional offers for our readers. Just mention the blog in your form submission!