Mastering for platform
One quality master, then a separate finish only where a destination genuinely needs its own. Nobody will ever compliment this, and everybody hears it.
The short version
Is this for you? If your uploads get turned down and your levels jump between videos, and above all if the same recording lands in several places at once, a long cut, verticals, an audio version, an embed. For a single video in one place, we will tell you to skip it.
What leaves your plate. A separate master per destination, the export law agreed once and written down, and a limiter kept for the one peak nobody predicted.
What starts working. Audio that arrives at the level it was meant to, wherever it was sent, with a written spec a different editor could still follow next year.
The smallest way in. A free audit: three fields, and a written reading back, usually within about three working days. It commits you to nothing.
What to read next. The five levels to see where this fits, or the casework to see it done.
Where mastering stops being an export preset
A separate finish only where a destination needs one
One mix, kept as a single quality-controlled master, and a separate finishing pass only where a destination's chain genuinely differs. A long-form upload, a vertical cut and an ad can each arrive through a different playback chain with its own opinions about level, dynamics and codec; where they do, sending one file everywhere lets the platforms decide for you and some will decide badly. Where the chains are close enough, one careful master carries them all. The mix itself stays untouched; only the finishing changes.
The settings are written down before the first video
Export law is agreed at the start of a partnership and printed: codec, sample rate, channels, bit rate, and where the master meter is allowed to sit. It is not renegotiated per piece, which means no video ships at whatever the last preset happened to be, and a second editor opening the project six months later reaches the same file we would have.
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 one peak nobody predicted
Ceiling around minus one decibel, as insurance. The honest version of that rule, and the one written into the delivery notes, is that where nothing is clipping the limiter is not strictly required. A ceiling stated as an absolute with no exception is usually a studio protecting itself from having to listen, and listening is the only part of this that cannot be automated.
The export law, agreed once
Per-partner delivery law, settled at the start of the partnership. Numbers, so that nothing here depends on anybody remembering.
| 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 a finished mix to a file the platform leaves alone
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 actually 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 actually owns, because a master is not finished until somebody has heard the thing that will actually be published.
Where the source came from decides the ceiling
Camera scratch audio is a sync reference and nothing else. Where a separate recording exists it is the only thing that reaches the master, and where it does not, mastering can raise the floor of a recording but never its origin. Everything on this page is downstream of a decision taken with a microphone stand.
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
Audio that arrives at the level it was meant to arrive at, wherever it was sent, with a written specification behind it that a different editor could follow next year. Nobody notices a master. They notice the absence of one, and they describe it as something else entirely.
Related: Audio mixing · Audio post-production · Delivery and export · Phase alignment
Audio problems hide in plain sight because viewers feel them without naming them. The audit listens through recent videos and puts in writing what the sound is costing and what would fix it first.
Request your free audit.
Three fields, and a written reading back: a fit snapshot, two or three prioritised opportunities, and a recommended next step.
A person reads the channel and writes the audit by hand: a considered read typically takes three working days. That is the usual shape, not a promised turnaround. We use these details only to reply to you: no lists, no lurking.
What you will get
A fit snapshot: where your channel stands, and whether we are a match.
Two to three opportunities: specific, prioritised, yours to keep.
A recommended next step, even if that step is not us.
The audit is free and commits you to nothing: nobody follows up with a call you did not ask for.
The casework shows all of this done.
The case studies are the same work with the numbers, the sources and the dates attached.
See the casework →