What's the difference between mixing and mastering?
Founder & CEO, Futureproof Music School
Mixing is the process of balancing and refining individual tracks in your song, like adjusting the levels of your kick, synths, and vocals, and adding effects like EQ and compression to make everything work together. Mastering comes after mixing and focuses on polishing the entire final stereo mix to ensure it sounds cohesive, professional, and consistent with other tracks across different playback systems. Think of mixing as sculpting each element of your track, while mastering is the final polish that makes your song ready for Spotify, SoundCloud, or any other platform. Both stages are essential to achieving a professional sound that competes with what you hear on the radio or in the club.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I finish mixing before I start mastering my track?
Yes, your mix should be as polished as possible before mastering. Mastering can't fix a poorly balanced mix, so make sure your levels, EQ, and effects are dialed in first.
How much headroom should I leave when bouncing my mix for mastering?
Leave around 3-6 dB of headroom with your master fader peaking between -6 and -3 dB. This gives the mastering stage enough dynamic range to work with without clipping.
Can I use mastering plugins on my mix bus while mixing?
You can reference mastering plugins during mixing to hear how your track might sound finished, but turn them off before your final mixdown. Mixing into mastering processing can limit your options and cause you to make compensation decisions that won't translate well.
John von Seggern
Founder & CEO, Futureproof Music School
John von Seggern is the founder and CEO of Futureproof Music School. He holds an MA in digital ethnomusicology (the anthropology of music on the internet) from UC Riverside, and a BA in Music, magna cum laude, from Carleton College. A techno producer and DJ since the late 1990s, he released as John von on his own net.label Xeriscape Records while working at Native Instruments, where he co-authored the MASSIVE synth manual. He contributed sound design to Pixar's WALL-E (2008), was a member of Jon Hassell's late-career Studio Group on Hassell's final two albums, ran Icon Collective's online program with Max Pote for eight years before Icon closed in May 2025, and authored three books on music technology including Laptop Music Power!. He architected Kadence, the AI music coach at the core of Futureproof.
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