Mastering for platform
One quality master, with a separate finish where the destination needs it.
The short version
What you get. Audio prepared to the agreed delivery specification, with the settings recorded for future work.
Is this for you? For inconsistent playback levels, especially when one recording will be used in several formats. A separate finish is made where the destination needs one. A master starts from a finished mix, so if the balance is the problem, audio mixing comes first.
What leaves your plate. Final level and dynamics, delivery encoding and checks against the agreed specification.
Start with the Free Audit.
One master, and a finish per destination
Compatible destinations share a master
We keep one quality-controlled master and make a separate finishing pass where a destination requires different settings. Where requirements are compatible, the same master can serve several uses.
The settings are written down before the first video
We record the export specification at the start: codec, sample rate, channels, bit rate and level limits. Future exports use that reference, including when another editor takes over.
The major platforms turn loud files down, towards a target of their own
Loudness normalisation is not an argument anybody wins. Push a master hard and the platform pulls it back, so the loud version arrives at the same level as the careful one with rather less of its dynamics left. The measurement is a published standard, ITU-R BS.1770; the target each platform normalises to varies, some destinations publish theirs and some leave you to measure it, and because the file is re-levelled on playback either way, it is a figure to master towards with headroom rather than one to hit exactly. Mastering here aims at the destination rather than at the meter, which is why a lesson still has quiet moments by the time it reaches somebody's phone.
The limiter is there for the unpredicted peak
We use a limiter where the material needs peak control, with the ceiling set to the delivery specification. The result is checked by listening as well as metering.
The agreed export specification
Example delivery settings. The specification for your project is agreed in writing.
| Delivery encode | AAC, 48 kHz, stereo |
|---|---|
| Bit rate | 384 kbps, high quality |
| Archival master | kept lossless, WAV or FLAC |
| Master meter | nothing clipping |
| Limiter ceiling | about −1 dB, as protection |
| Masters per piece | one source master; a separate finish per destination that needs one |
From the finished mix to the delivery file
What a master does that a mix does not
A mix balances sources against one another. A master takes that finished stereo file and prepares it for one destination: overall level, the last of the dynamic control, any final tonal correction, and the encode itself. Two different jobs, done in two different frames of mind, and the second one is listening to the whole where the first was listening to the parts.
The path the file travels
Audio nested inside the main angle, so only that channel leaves the timeline. Encode to the written specification; the sequence default gets overridden by hand. Then a listen back to the exported file, on the sort of playback the audience owns, because a master is not finished until somebody has heard the thing that will be published.
Where the source came from decides the ceiling
Where a separate recording was made for the programme, we use it and keep camera audio as a sync reference. If the camera recording is the only source, we assess what it can support before finishing it.
At the bench
The work, demonstrated
Try a decision from the craft: drag, tap or toggle, then read the trade-off.
These are illustrative models; no partner’s results are shown.
More demonstrations at the bench →A platform's playback is not a neutral pipe, and a file that ignores it has already been altered by the time anyone hears it.
So one mix is finished more than once, aimed at each place it lands rather than at a meter.
What changes for you
Consistent delivery settings reduce avoidable jumps between pieces. The specification stays documented for whoever prepares the next export.
Related: Audio mixing · Audio post-production · Delivery and export · Phase alignment
Send recent videos. We will listen for the main audio problems and suggest what to address first.
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What you will get
What is working, what could improve and whether we can help.
Two or three priorities, with the reason for each.
A recommended next step, even if that step is not us.
There is no obligation to continue. We only arrange a call if you ask for one.
The work, written up
The case studies keep their dates, sources and limits visible.
See the casework →