Meanwhile, they can also incorporate additional effects to add even more impact, such as reverb, modulation or pitch fx. For example, if a certain moment has a powerful bass line, the engineer can punch that up and reign in the other instruments to highlight that groove. They reduce any clashing sounds and help to emphasize certain moments that can increase the music’s impact emotionally.

Mix engineers utilize pro tools like EQ, panning, reverb and compression to help make the different tracks sound like a cohesive song. This is where the mix engineer would enter the picture. If just added together, they could seem like sound layered on top of each other, without a strong affiliation between the parts and tracks. Oftentimes, that format is two-channel stereo.įor example, once a musician or band has recorded singing, rhythm parts and other instruments, they now have multiple tracks of music. Yet once you break down the basics, it’s easy to identify what sets mixing and mastering apart from each other:Īt the simplest level, mixing is the process of balancing, treating and combining multitrack material into a multichannel format. It’s no wonder that people often refer to mixing and mastering interchangeably - the technical talk alone could leave an experienced musician confused. Read on to understand exactly how the two are different and why they matter so much to the music that you make and listen to.Īudio and music production is a complicated process filled with minute steps using difficult equipment that can overwhelm or intimidate those that aren’t familiar. Yet mixing and mastering are two distinct practices that require their own engineers, technical knowledge and procedures to perfect the final stages of a song or piece of music. After all, they’re both processes that aim to make the music better, right?

Unless you are a mixing engineer or mastering engineer, it can be easy to (mistakenly) think that mixing and mastering music is one and the same. What is the Difference between Mixing and Mastering?

Master my song