Mastering: How To Master Your Tracks Like A Pro

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Producer Jon Griffin presents a straightforward guide to ensuring great results, and avoiding the many pitfalls, when mastering your own tracks.

Overview

Mastering is essentially the process of preparing your song, or collection of songs, for the commercial market. The aim of mastering is to present a coherent final product that translates well onto all kinds of listening systems and environments in the real world, beyond the relatively pristine confines of the studio.

In practice, mastering is primarily about fixing troublesome frequencies, lifting detail, balancing and enhancing the stereo image, and of course making the work competitive in terms of overall loudness. Of course, mastering can also involve more than this, but here we are going to focus on the essential processes that can be undertaken in your own studio, particularly when hiring a professional ME (mastering engineer) is not cost effective.

Your Pre-Mastered Mix

The more familiar you are with the mastering process, the more this can help you make good mixing decisions. Mix balance is king here, and so is maintaining headroom and a good dynamic range. Make sure none of your individual instruments or vocals go beyond 0dB where they will clip or distort: Even if your mix overall has good headroom and is well short of distorting, any peaks caused by tracks spiking above 0dB may become more apparent while mastering and severely compromise the mix.

brainworx bx_meter

brainworx bx_meter

Keep control of your mix dynamics by adding small doses of compression at different stages rather than heaping it on in one sitting, so a little compression while tracking, a little while mixing, a touch of limiting here and there and maybe even a touch on the mix buss itself. By the time you are printing off a mix, those compression touches will add up to a mix that is solid, without being lifeless and have just about the right headroom and dynamic range left that you or your ME would need.

Headroom

You want to keep your loudest peaks with at least 1dB of headroom below zero, but really you can comfortably aim for greater margins, -3dB below zero would be even better. You don’t want to worry about ensuring your mix is loud – that is what mastering is for. Some engineers are even printing mixes at -18dB because they feel there is some sonic benefit. Your mix file can easily be brought up in level without issue with gain plugins or the clip gain functionality in most DAW’s. What you want to avoid at all costs are peaks above 0dB. It is far better to maintain headroom by printing a quieter mix than to squeeze every possible decibel out of it and risk going over before it even gets to mastering.

Dynamic Range

Dynamic range is the difference between the loudest and quietest moments in your music, and is also essential to preserve. A track with good dynamic range feels musical and exciting, whereas a track with poor dynamic range feels tight and fatiguing. How much dynamic range you build into any given mix is largely a judgement call you make based on taste, style and genre. Genres like pop and electronica tend to have less dynamic range than jazz, classical and other acoustic music. As a mix engineer you don’t necessarily want a mix that is too dynamic, but you certainly don’t want one that has no dynamics either! Meters like the Brainworx BX Meter that give real-time visual feedback on the dynamic range are popular tools and can help guide you in this respect.

Mastering Signal Chain

There are of course exceptions, and there are occasions where you have to do things differently, but the rule of thumb ME’s tend to agree on would be that a mastering chain should run something like this…

  • Gain Plugins
  • EQ
  • Stereo FX – such as widening or mastering reverb
  • Compressors
  • Limiting

Gain

You want to avoid using your limiter to deliver lots of gain at the end of your mastering chain. Ideally you only want to lean on them for a few dB, so make sure your audio file is at a good starting level either by using a gain plugin or, using the clip gain feature in most DAWS. Gaining will not affect your dynamic range only your headroom, you still want to keep enough headroom to apply your processes, but you don’t want the file to be so quiet that you are cranking the limiter to take up the slack.



Phase

Check a phase meter for good stereo representation: a nearly static line down the middle of the meter suggests there is little to no stereo quality; the result can be a lifeless, congested sounding mix. The solution could be as simple as inserting a basic widener and opening it up, fanning the mix out like a deck of cards. This leads to possibilities for additional surgical processes.

EQ

Well-known and highly experienced mastering engineer Craig Anderton preaches that EQ is 90% of the mastering process. If you are boosting or cutting EQ, a great piece of advice from Craig is to push the EQ frequency gain to where your ears want it…then halve your move. If you are boosting 3kHz by 3dB, bring it back to 1.5dB, that will probably be enough. In terms of EQing the mix generally, take time to listen first for the obvious things. Purposefully listen to the bass, the mid range, upper mid range and the highs. While trying to detect faults may seem like looking for a sonic needle in a haystack, start broad and you’ll gradually zero in on any issues if there are any. If you can’t detect anything you know you could improve, don’t EQ anything.

Stereo Enhancement

Stereo enhancement, or “widening”, involves spreading the various elements of a mix out over the stereo spectrum, pushing more sound to the extreme left and right.

This can be a significant and satisfying part of the mastering process, often transforming a track with a single turn of a knob. The downside is that it can also destroy a mix by either creating an un-real sense of space or by introducing phase issues and compromising energy levels.
The temptation can be to widen as far as your plugin will allow, but a more sensible approach is to apply it only to the point where you miss it when you take it out.

Widening to lift detail

Wideners can be especially useful for songs where a certain instrument or the vocal is getting lost in a busy mix. This is commonly because of an excess of information focused in the same ‘space’, either in terms of frequency or panning. Mixes that lack stereo information will be worse for that. Use a widener to fan out the mix, followed by an EQ boost to the fundamental frequency of the instrument or vocal you want more of. Typically you could look at boosting a vocal in the 3-4kHz range.

Compressors

Compressors control dynamic range. If the mix is too dynamic or just needs a little more punch, a couple of dB of gain reduction from a compressor can really help stabilise the mix. You’ll need to think in terms of long attack times to avoid squashing the transients. Compression can really help in terms of scoring additional headroom and adding gain. If you are not getting the loudness level you want at the limiting stage, go back to your compressor and squeeze it some more rather than digging deeper into your limiter.

Compressors in Series

A useful technique to keep compression transparent and yet still achieve lots of gain is to use two in series, thus halving the workload on each. You get a cleaner, less obviously compressed sound because the circuits in each are being driven less and recovery times are near instantaneous.

Limiting

The final stage is to cash in any remaining headroom and bring the mix level up as high as you can without clipping. Limiters are essentially compressors with super fast attack times and high compression ratios. You might start by setting the ceiling of a limiter to 0dB and then draw down the threshold to meet the audio peaks. The threshold is tied to an auto gain function, so the more you reduce the headroom and dig into the peaks, the more loudness you get back.

However, there is a trade-off here: the more you flatten the peaks, the less dynamic range you end up with. Mixes with too much limiting may appear loud, but in truth they feel flat, lacking dynamic energy and excitement. The trick is to be careful – a little limiting goes a long way, and heavy limiting very quickly gets ugly and amateurish.

And Finally…

One last point worth mentioning as a word of warning: you could hypothetically set your limiter to 0dB, thereby thoroughly exploiting any remaining headroom, and achieving maximum possible loudness. After all, you would think, if you have a limiter in place, you should be fine right? None shall pass and all that?
Well, yes, but there are certain digital processes that are required to smooth audio and in so doing they can add an additional thin layer of gain after the limiter: this could be enough to clip the master buss if your mix is already running right up to the limit. Therefore, it’s far better practice to allow perhaps 0.5db to act as a super safety net.

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Jon Griffin is a UK based freelance Record Producer with over 15 years working at a commercial level. He finished his Engineering Diploma in 1997 and interned at Soul II Soul before embarking on a varied career of music production. He has worked on a number of hit records, produced music for film and TV, Playstation games and some huge sample replays. He remains very accessible to independent artists so why not check out his work by visiting www.jongriffin.biz.

47 Comments

  1. About the double compressors: when I do this on individual tracks I use two different compressors with different settings, does the same apply when used in the mastering process? Or would you recommend using similar ones with more similar settings, so mostly the workload gets divided, but there will be at little as possible colorization?

    • Hey Robin,
      The idea of the double compressors in this case is to reduce compression artefacts by halving the load on each device. If your reducing the range overall by 3db, then set each compressor the same to reduce 1.5db each.

    • Hi HotMayo,

      The bottom line is that vocals are so broad in scope that there is nothing I could realistically tell you about how you should compress the vocals you are working on right now. I can though give you the broader perspective – Good vocals prior to mastering should be sitting where you want them – not above the music, not buried. This is the real skill of audio production, you should consider small amounts of processing at every significant step, compress a little while recording – how much is genre dependent and how dynamic the voice is) but you know, it probably won’t hurt to compress a few dbs on the way in, hi pass the low end to around 90hz. EQ what you feel you need to EQ – shouldn’t need more than 6db on any given frequency band if its recorded well. About this stage – automate – go through the performance and use automation to plant the vocal exactly where you want it. Then perhaps compress a little more, just to housekeep it.
      This is a good place to start – provided your not smashing anything or cranking the EQ you should be in decent shape, mastering can lift out vocal detail but you need to get the basics of the mix right first.

  2. Hi Jon,

    Loved the article mate!

    Was curious to know which wideners you use you mentioned wideners and i really thing my mixes are missing them, would love to know what you use or anyone else uses on here ?

    Cheerio Chaps

    Dave

  3. Hi Dave,

    Thanks for your positive feedback.
    Personally I keep wideners simple, I like the Waves S1 – nice and quick – difficult to screw anything up, easy to use.
    I find that I’ll start by being way too heavy so I can hear how fake it sounds and then wind it back in until its really subtle. The end result for me is typically conservative, just enough that I miss it if I take it out.
    Do be careful – even though wideners can be really satisfying and pop-tastic, much beyond 25% – 40% and you might regret it later.

    Good Luck!
    Jon

  4. Hi Jon

    Thanks for your article i have a few problems.. Im using vst’s instrument so im not sure that when mixing them you apply EQ and Compressor like you do when mixing a live sound.. 2. When using a Mix buss compressor on a mixing stage is it possible to apply it again in mastering stage… 3. Waves S1 which settings you recommend because there is no 25% like other plugins.. Thnx

    • Hi Mzie,

      You can apply all the same kinds of compression and EQ to VST instruments as you would ‘live’ – but how you apply it depends on the VST of course. If you use BFD as your live drums for example they are not processed at all, and so you can treat them just as you would an actual drum kit, other VST drum kits may well have kits that are essentially mixed already, typically these will sound more ‘finished’ so you need to consider that. You may not want to compress and EQ heavily kits that are already compressed and EQ’d. This would be the same on things like percussion packs or multi-sampled instruments. In terms of pure synths i.e. lead lines, arpeggios EQ is definitely likely and dynamics too, but synths on the whole, in my experience are not as dynamic or as inconsistent as ‘real’ instruments so I do find I don’t compress in the way I might elsewhere.

      Mix Buss compressor, if your mix compressor really makes your mix jive and sound how you want it, then there is nothing wrong with using it, you can apply more compression/limiting for level at the mastering stage if you want, but you do need to know what you are doing or you could pancake the whole thing. What I think your question might be implying though is should a mix buss compressor only be left to mastering? There is a good argument for both approaches, but the best advice is that I can give is don’t use your mix compressor for volume, but instead for helping gel the mix together, alternatively do a version with this compressor for reference, then print a version without so you can experiment and compare each approach.

      The S1 is super simple, you only probably need to worry about the width slider, listen for when its really strong and then back it off until you don’t hear it so easily, but when you by pass it you miss it. If you have it too wide you will introduce phasing issues which will make the mix sound thin and weird sounding.

  5. Thanks Jon you are a like saver so in terms of panning stereo tracks to make wide in a mixing stage what is your opinion there… So in mastering stage how many GR on a limiter i will take to make my mixer loud as pro mix.. And we are the small studio producers its hard to achieve a width, height and Depth in our mixers so what can you advice us as new producers.. Thanks im sorry to ask alot at the same time.

  6. Hi Jon

    Thanks Jon you are a like saver so in terms of panning stereo tracks to make wide in a mixing stage what is your opinion there… So in mastering stage how many GR on a limiter i will take to make my mixer loud as pro mix.. And we are the small studio producers its hard to achieve a width, height and Depth in our mixers so what can you advice us as new producers.. Thanks im sorry to ask alot at the same time.

  7. There are guys who use a panning approach called LCR, which means, left, centre, right – in this approach if its not centre it has to be hard left or hard right, no degrees in between, that is something you could try, some producers swear by it others like myself can’t quite commit to that, but its an interesting philosophy and can be very useful in terms of creating arrangements and certainly is one technique for creating space and depth.

    Mastering – Limiting can be a dangerous tool as it can appear to make everything leaner and meaner the more you use, early on the chances are your going to ruin some mixes until you get your ear in. What you have to understand is that during the mix you want to get the dynamics (loud to quiet scale) much as you want it. Ideally without killing the vibes, when those dynamics are right, it will already sound loud when you turn it up. Strange choice of words? Well, what I mean is that a mix with a not so good dynamic control requires loads of volume before it comes together (and your hearing collapses), where as a good mix, sounds together and ‘powerful’ at whatever level. Limiting GR may depend on the style of music, it is about using your ears, I’d be concerned if I was using it to get more than a few db, but if to you it sounds better with 8db of GR, maybe you should revisit your mix. You should be able to clip gain the stereo audio file so it is just below zero on – no overs – and then use the limiter to tighten up the dynamic range, but it shouldn’t especially need a ton.

  8. Meaning i have to compress each instrument while i mix maybe taking 3dB of GR will help? So i heared you talk about compressing vocals while recoding what we can do compress then because we don’t have and external hardware compressors to do that.

  9. Really difficult to advise you on your particular mix, every one is so different, but to clarify I do mean compressing in the mix and possibly even while tracking if you feel confident, otherwise you should be able to achieve what you need within the mix. You have to choose your gain reduction based on if you think it sounds better, I know this is hard if you struggle to hear compression, try and hear it more in terms of control – when you apply too much, it probably gets crunchy and begins to pump and distort, that can be a cool effect, but in terms of controlling/ house keeping dynamics, this is generally a much more subtle process, depends on compressor but I suppose you could do worse than aim for 2:1 – 3:1 comp ration with 2-3db GR.

  10. Thanks for a lesson Jon the last think i like which plugins you prefer starting from EQ to Limiter because im looking to buy something that mostly used by pro ME i dont like to use stock plugins thanks.

    • Do you want my honest thoughts on this? Stock plugins will not hold you back at all, if you don’t fully understand desirable, expensive 3rd party plugins, they could actually make you sound worse.
      I have been exactly where you are and I have amassed over the years plenty of plugs I have paid for and I now feel confident in the view I have. I could live without the majority of additional software I have bought with next to no real problem, however, I do like certain plugins more than others. If anything I think, because of the design of the interface more so than the sound. I would recommend to you though the Fabfilter Compressor, which as well as being a versatile plug, is also brilliant for giving someone who is not sure what compression is doing lots of visual feedback.
      I also can really recommend Fabfilters Pro Q, which again is high quality but also offers really informative feedback for identifying the right frequencies to treat. I think these are excellent plugins that will grow with you.

  11. Thanks for the tips. Anything about mastering is always useful to know.

    The thing i’m most interested in is “compressors in series” and on paper it certainly sounds like two compressors with “light settings” are going to be a lot better than one sledgehammer blow from a single compressor.

    Question : Roughly, what settings would be good for each compressor ? I know its relative to the material, but I tend to probably use compression the way I used reverb and delay when I first started out ( too much , and no finesse ) and compression is still , well, it’s less esoteric to me than it used to be, but I usually use it for sidechaining rather than mastering, so the attack/release, ratio/threshold are set differently and more subtle.
    I like the idea of using 2 subtley and raising the overall level, but what would be a good overall setting range to avoid artefacts like pumping etc…. ?

  12. Hi Chris,

    It sounds a lot like you haven’t got your ear in yet where compression is concerned, it can be such a subtle process that I understand why you’ve asked the question the way that you have. Understanding compression is about 90% knowing what to listen out for, then it will begin to be a lot clearer and you’ll be more confident trying out whatever you feel benefits the music. I would say that compression (certainly when mastering) used knowledgeably really only alters the end result in the most subtle but important of ways, this is essential to appreciate because otherwise I think a lot of us might believe that this process will transform our mixes, making them powerful, correcting all our other technique and making it…loud.
    I would say that your best bet is to keep it simple and use just a single compressor, after all most ME’s generally use just the one compressor, the dual compressor technique is pretty advanced and for people for whom the difference is important. Truthfully its just another way of achieving a similar result.
    When mastering a track I would say your listening for a point at which what your doing pulls the track together as optimally as you can, beyond that point you begin to degrade with compression. Your task is to find that point. For pop and rock mixes 2:1 ratio should do the job with 2-3db gain reduction. Slow attacks – say 30ms is probably safe, releases of around 120ms likewise.
    Perhaps try higher ratios and much higher gain reduction than this – like 18db or more if only so you can hear the attack and release phases by exaggerating them, listen for the rhythm of the compression, use the attack and release settings to find a rhythm of compression you like, that compliments the music, then back it all the way down until your at something like 2:1 with the 2-3db GR. Its about right when the rhythm of the compression is set and you perhaps can no longer hear the difference until you bypass it.

    If then you still want to try the dual compressor idea, set up 2 compressors exactly the same using the settings from the above approach. From here you can choose how you split the load, you could for example share the db reduction, so instead of one compressor reducing by 3db you have them both taking 1.5db each or you might have them both on a ratio 1:5 taking 2db each, really the point is to find pleasing combinations. You might even use two different types of compressor, where each brings a different quality.

    Release times by the way can be set just like delays can be, to 1/4 notes, 1/8s, 16ths etc, you find these in exactly the same way as you do with delays, you’ll always get pumping if you use a compressor, but the trick is it to have the pumping at the right time. Unwanted pumping is usually the result of release times that fall outside of your tracks natural ebb and flow.

    Hope that helps.
    Jon http://www.jongriffin.biz

  13. Great tip i’ve tried the technique of using 2 compressor and its better then using one compressor and its transparent thanks Jon you are a good tutor… the problem i have now is to make a mix sound Tall and deep can you advise me how can i achieve that?

  14. In terms of adding a Reverb when mastering which reverbs are good for mastering or its just a hardware only that works great?

    • Hi Andy,

      I don’t see any need for a dedicated gain plugin, you can just highlight your audio track and raise the gain there. In programs like Nuendo and Cubase, they give you a trim pot on each channel, but this is no different to clip gaining. I would say that you don’t want to use the gain stage of a plugin designed to give the music a vibe, the point is just to get the level of the track up so you are not then applying a shed load of processing just for brute loudness. Use clip gain to get the track so it is not clipping the buss and that you still have a few db to play with. That’s about it!

  15. Hi Jon, Excellent article, I have been wondering for a year, after changing genre, I am creating psychedelic Trance music and the mastering is been quiet a pain, which plugins would be the best for my music.
    I wonder if you have any experience in mastering electronic music, I would like to know the best plugins for such a music.
    I hope you can help me, thank you so much

    • Hi Sarhava,

      Mastering chains do not have to change especially just because the genre is different, I mean, they may well do and for sure there are mastering facilities that specialise, but the rules stay within the same ball park of controlling dynamics without crushing the life out of it and eqing to fix things missed in the mix phase.. I am sure that if you follow the article here, this is pretty much universal. I’m just not experienced enough about your exact area, I’d suggest looking for you tube videos under ‘Mastering for Dance music’ that I am sure will cover just about all dance genres.

  16. Hello Jon. As a complete Newbee to mastering instrument tracks, I have just been relaying on what I’ve been able to pick up online and my ear. My DAW is Ableton 9 with an insane amount of plugins. Like I said, not knowing what to use or how to chain them together, I relied on suggestions I read online. This is the chain of free plugins I am currently using. (I also just went with the presets for each that sounded best to me).

    1. SH-Equalizer or EasyQ (Parametric EQ – High Pass Filter)
    2. FerricTDS_1.5.1 (Valve Emulation)
    3. FerricTDS_1.5.1 (Tape Emulation)
    4. BC Triple EQ (Dual) (Parametric EQ – High Shelving Filter)
    5. BassLandscapes (Bass Enhancer)
    6. DensitymkIII.64 (Compressor)
    7. RescueMK2_2.1 (Stereo Widener)
    8. T-SLEDGE149 (Multiband Compressor)
    9. Gclip (Soft Clipper)
    10. GranComp3 (Multiband Brickwall Limiter)
    11. Ambient medium reverb (Ableton)

    Is this an overkill or is the order correct? Thanks for your insight.

    • Hi Al,

      Given that you admit you are a newbie, the answer is…probably. That said, if you like what you are hearing – do what feels good, what you are doing is a good way to learn what works and – what doesn’t.

      My gut feeling would be that with all that processing your probably altering the content of your track quite a lot, by which I mean, if you by pass your processing, your track sounds radically different. As a rule, you don’t really want to do that, you should have a mix you basically are very happy with and then only use mastering to lift detail, add a bit of sparkle and loudness. Good mastering is transparent ideally.
      Hope that gives you some guidance.

    • Don’t put the reverb after the limiter.
      The limiter MUST be the last in the chain

  17. Hello Jon, thank you for your reply and guidance. I am a believer in less being more with everything from seasoning food to decorating a house. I think that I got this chain idea from someone creating dance music which I am not doing.
    Looking at what I’m working with, what should I take out and leave in to enhance the sound?

  18. Hi Al,

    The article that accompanies is really what I would suggest for starters, its good basic mastering practice. I cannot advise on your particular processor chain, its very mix dependent and lots of other factors too.

  19. I’ve found that in order to get tracks competitively loud without making them sound flat and lifeless, making individual instruments and groups loud before they get to the master channel is very effective. This is a tip I learnt from a Noisia tutorial. I you treat the drums separately you can make them loud and nice and punchy with strong attack before they get to the master. Then any limiting done on the master is minimal. This has made the process much easier for me.

  20. This site rocks! I just found it, a real treasure trove. I have been producing EDM, atmospheric and Acoustic insturmental/ Singer Songwriter music for 17 years and this site is very very good. Great Article. Thank you :)

  21. Tommaso Masella on

    Hi,

    is it possible to use this mastering software in live performance? I’d like to put a compressor limiter between the mixer and the speakers, I bought Alesis 3632 Compressor (hardware) but it’s far away miles from the results that can be obtained by studio mastering software, especially the peak limiter, so my question is: would it be possible to put a PC containig studio mastering software between the mixer and the speakers in live performance so that I can input the sounds from the mixer into the PC, process them into the mastering software and then send them out to the speakers? Any suggestions / links for live performance? Thank you for your help.

    • Hi Tommaso,

      You would have to be using a super low latency interface, something like the UAD Apollo which you can then run audio live through and use the on board plugins, I can really only speak authoritatively about my RME’s and I know that even at the lowest latency setting the delay is distracting. This means I do not run processors on the inputs, but the easiest way to know is to try.

  22. Tommaso Masella on

    Hi Jon,
    thank you for your reply. Yes latency issue is very important, I have TC Near Konnect external audio interface which is satisfactory as I feel no latency at all when I play, so that’s good! For the rest I’m glad that it’s possible to use PC in live performance and I’s studying the best solution to apply. Thank you!

  23. Pekka Savilampi on

    Hi there. I also found this site when googling “master chain”, i’ve been producing dance genre since 1999 and about 4 years i started producing metal. I’ve always done this “tweak until it sound good” before i start to do some mastering..its the same no matter what genre.

    I also believe in this “less is more”, but when mastering metal..what kind of mastering chain is most common??

    The one i use in series (all t-racks) in all genres.

    1. Linear eq (linear phase mode “on”, boost & cut)
    2.Eq 1a (mid/side. Fine boost & cut)
    3.vintage model 670 ( glue,warmth, character)
    4.buss comp (glue)
    5.Brickwall limiter

  24. Hi Pekka,

    Thanks for your comment, the guide here has to be somewhat general, but it holds true for all genres. There is no recognised standard for processing metal, I imagine it is largely the same as described here but of course there will be those that do things slightly differently, there will be those who favour all analogue and paradoxically others who are just as respected who favour all digital, some who will use colourful EQs and compressors and others who insist on transparency. I’m afraid it is a case of trial and error as to what delivers the end result that most satisfies you.

  25. Seven O More on

    wow…so..jon..how can i arrange the individual pluigns in my mastering buss..and how can i use a multiband com
    pressor in my mastering buss..

    • Hi Seven,

      It is interesting that you ask HOW can you use a multiband in your chain, rather than starting with a reason WHY you might want to use one.
      I would only consider a multiband if I felt I wanted to control or draw out something in the mix I couldn’t achieve with EQ. There are definitely times when that is the case – like when you have a good mix, except that a bass note pokes out once in a bar and momentarily overloads the low end, you wouldn’t want to eq that out, as it would make the mix lite, then a multiband would be perfect.

      If you do have a great reason, then I would suggest you would insert after any regular compression and just before the limiter.

  26. Hi John. I appreciate your aids.i am pleased . thanks alot. i have this problem of achieving more headroom wide and depth in my mix, I will like to know also how best to make my mastering sound like other commercial musics. thanks.

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