Mastering Chain Explained: What Actually Happens in a Session

Most mastering sessions follow a rough order: compression first, then EQ, then any colour or saturation, then stereo processing, then limiting at the end. That's the skeleton. What goes on each bone changes with every track.

This is usually the first thing I reach for. Compression evens out the dynamic range before anything else touches the track. The loudest parts get pulled back slightly, which lets me push the overall level up without the peaks eating all the headroom.

On most dance tracks, I'm not compressing hard. Maybe 1-2dB of gain reduction on the peaks. The goal is to glue things together slightly, not to squash the life out of it. On a track with a lot of dynamic range, like a vocal ballad or an acoustic track, compression does more work. On a dense techno track that's already quite compressed from the mix, I might barely touch it.

Compression changes the tonal balance on its own. It can add weight, dull transients, shift how the track feels. So EQ comes after, not before. That way I'm shaping the balance the track actually has once it's been compressed, not one that's about to change again.

I'm making broad tonal adjustments here. Adding weight in the low end, taming harshness in the high mids, opening up the top end. These are wide, gentle curves most of the time, not surgical cuts.

I start at the bottom end, usually adding bass with EQ. Then the high end, usually around 4kHz, getting the bite out. Then the low mids, usually with a mid-only EQ to get a solid central image. That order is consistent for me. What changes is how much I need to do at each stage.

Not every track needs this. But when it does, a touch of harmonic saturation adds warmth and presence that EQ alone can't give you. It fills out the midrange, adds perceived loudness without actually pushing the level, and can make a digital mix feel more alive.

I use this sparingly. It's easy to overdo. The goal is for the listener to not notice it's there, but to notice if it was removed.

Width adjustments, mid-side processing, mono compatibility checks. If the mix is too narrow, I can widen the sides. If the low end has stereo information that shouldn't be there, I can mono it.

For dance music, I tend to mono below 80Hz, keep the mids focused, and let the sides breathe from about 125Hz upward. That gives you solidity in the centre with width where it counts.

The limiter is always last. It catches the peaks and brings the overall level up to where it needs to be. This is where loudness comes from.

A good limiter is transparent. You shouldn't hear it working. If the master sounds crushed or pumpy, the limiter is doing too much. Either the track wasn't balanced well enough before it hit the limiter, or the engineer is pushing too hard.

I push until the track starts to lose something. When the punch softens, the depth flattens, or the transients round off, I pull back. The sweet spot is always just before that point.

I have a basic starting chain that goes on everything. Then I add or remove tools depending on what the track needs. A track with a perfect tonal balance might barely need EQ. A track with a harsh top end might need a de-esser or a dynamic EQ that I wouldn't normally use. A very dynamic track might need parallel compression instead of insert compression.

The chain serves the track. The track doesn't serve the chain. If something isn't helping, it comes out. That's why presets and one-size-fits-all mastering don't work. Every track is different.