Mixing and Mastering Principles Flashcards
7 cards from real Music & Audio Advice practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Mixing and Mastering Principles flashcards as text
What does LUFS measure in mastering?
Answer: Perceived integrated loudness
LUFS quantifies perceived loudness over time, the standard for streaming loudness normalization.
A streaming platform normalizes to around -14 LUFS. What happens to a master delivered much louder than that?
Answer: It gets turned down, often losing dynamics for no loudness gain
Over-loud masters are turned down to match the target, so excessive limiting just sacrifices dynamics.
What is the purpose of a brickwall limiter on the master bus?
Answer: Prevent the signal from exceeding a set ceiling to avoid clipping
A brickwall limiter caps peaks at a ceiling (e.g., -1 dBTP) so the output never clips.
Why set the limiter ceiling to about -1 dBTP instead of 0 dBFS?
Answer: To leave headroom for inter-sample peaks and lossy codec conversion
True-peak headroom prevents distortion from inter-sample peaks introduced by MP3/AAC encoding.
What does a reference track help you achieve during mastering?
Answer: A target for tonal balance and loudness to compare your master against
Comparing to a professionally finished track keeps your tonal balance and loudness in a competitive range.
Which processor is commonly used to control low-end and add cohesion across the whole mix during mastering?
Answer: Multiband compression
Multiband compression lets you tame specific frequency bands (like boomy low-end) without affecting the rest.
Why is mono compatibility checked during mastering?
Answer: To ensure the mix still sounds full when summed to mono on phones, club PAs, etc.
Phase issues from excessive stereo widening can cause elements to disappear when summed to mono.