This was only a very minor adjustment and I’m confident that it will give you a better idea of the sonic characteristics of each service.Īnother note to add – I’ve used the lowest price plans necessary to get a ‘’HD’’ WAV master.

I’ve also assigned a score to each of them, with notes about what I liked and what I didn’t like.Įven though I’ve indicated the peak volume for each master after processing, I decided to normalize them to make the comparison fairer. I’ve rated each master as it comes and treat it as though I was receiving it for a release. It is worth noting that each platform has slightly different parameters available to tweak, so getting each platform to apply exactly the ‘same settings’ was a bit of a stretch. I’ve also included the master submitted by my chosen human mastering engineer (Zac Zikis of Zikis Mastering), so you can be the judge of whether AI beats real ears in an actual mastering studio.įor consistency, I’ve gravitated towards similar settings for each of the platforms. The track was then mastered by these four “best” online mastering services: It’s by no means a modern sounding production – we’re just not into that as a band. There are quirky production choices obvious throughout and this needs to be reflected at every stage. The main reference for the overall vibe of the tune is pretty much anything from “Lullabies to Paralyze” by Queens of the Stone Age, a Joe Barresi production-especial. Now…let’s see if AI can beat an experienced mastering engineer. Yes, you CAN do it yourself, but you will always be told that it’s best to pay the premium and get another set of ears to topcoat the song!Īnd now we have cloud-based, online mastering services that can master your song within minutes! What’s not to love about that? Mastering engineers also seem to scrape at the barrel when it comes to explaining why it’s essential. Many people fail to see the point of something that they deem to be little more than “making it louder” and chopping the beginning and the end of a song. Mastering is but one area of music-making where the process itself seems to be under threat by artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms. In Pursuit Of The “Best Online Mastering Service”

Don’t forget to also check out Is Using AI In Music Cheating?.

Curious about the results? L isten to all the audio demos and see which you like best!.We also threw Zac Zikis (a real, human mastering engineer) into the mix.The contenders? eMastered vs LANDR vs Cloudbounce vs MajorDecibel.

We hosted our own battle of the “best online mastering services”.

Landr mastering payment