If you are recording vinyl records, it can be worth while setting up your recording program with a mastering chain that corrects the recording as you go, rather than afterwards. You will have to do this process one track at a time if you want to do it well. If you have recorded individual tracks rather than an entire mix but feel that the overall 'loudness' of your recordings is quieter than purchased digital music, you may need to master these tracks. However, there are a few basics that will help get your mix sounding good and the more you do, the better you will get.

This process is perhaps one of the hardest areas to get right in the audio engineering world, and is always wise to leave to professionals or friends who may have done this before.

It is worth taking your raw recording and listening to this on other speaker setups before doing anything further and making notes on how it sounds compared to other music you feel is of a high standard (such as professional albums). Your initial recording might sound great on your home setup, but when you play it elsewhere it may sound too quiet, muddy, bass heavy or harsh. One of the main benefits of mastering is allowing your recording to sound good on a wide array of speakers, not just your personal setup.

Mastering is the final step of audio post-production - it is the process of polishing your raw recording into a dynamic, loud and high quality professionally sounding audio product.

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