Mastering FAQs: Your Guide To Polished Modern Metal

Mastering is the final step, the last 10% that makes all the difference between a great mix and a legit, pro-sounding track. For modern metal, the stakes are ridiculously high. The audience expects a level of polish and impact that was unthinkable 20 years ago. With bands like Humanity’s Last Breath tuning down to frequencies that could crack foundations, and genre-bending artists like Spiritbox blending brutal breakdowns with delicate atmospheres, mastering isn’t just about making it loud—it’s about control, clarity, and devastating power.

Let’s dive into the most common questions metal producers have when they hit the mastering stage.

How Loud Should My Metal Master Be?

This is the big one. The loudness wars might be “over” for some genres, but in metal, volume is still king. The goal is to be competitive without turning your dynamic, punchy mix into a distorted brick.

For streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, a good target is around -7 to -5 LUFS integrated. Some hyper-aggressive genres might push even louder. However, LUFS is only part of the story.

Actionable Steps:

1. Set Your Limiter Ceiling: Use a high-quality true-peak limiter like the FabFilter Pro-L 2 or the iZotope Ozone Maximizer. Set your ceiling to -0.3dBfs to -1.0dBfs. This prevents a lot of the inter-sample peaks that can cause distortion on consumer playback systems.
2. Use Clipping Intentionally: Before your final limiter, consider using a good clipper plugin like StandardCLIP. Lightly clipping the peaks of your snare and kick can shave off the most aggressive transients, letting you increase the overall level without the limiter working as hard. This preserves punch and adds a subtle, aggressive saturation. Start with just 1-2 dB of clipping and listen for any unwanted artifacts.
3. Check Your Crest Factor: Don’t just stare at the LUFS meter. A track with a healthy crest factor (the difference between peak and average levels) will feel more dynamic and punchy. If your track is super loud but feels lifeless, you may have crushed all the dynamics out of it.

How much headroom do I really need to leave?

Honestly, just don’t clip. Forget the old “you MUST leave -6dB of headroom” rule. It’s not 1998.

As long as your mix bus isn’t slamming into a limiter and the final file isn’t clipping (in the red), a good mastering engineer can work with it. If your peaks are hitting around -3dB or -6dB, that’s totally fine. The big, can’t-mess-this-up-rule is just: NO CLIPPING.

Should I take the limiter off my mix bus before I send it?

YES. 100% YES. Take it off.

We know, we all mix into a limiter to feel that “loudness.” It’s like a drug. But the mastering engineer needs the raw, un-squashed, dynamic version of your mix. Making it loud is their job. Sending them a pre-smashed mix is like giving a painter a canvas that’s already been painted.

The only exception? If you’ve got a bus compressor (like an SSL-style) that’s barely moving (like 1-2dB) and is essential to your “glue” and groove, just talk to your engineer. The best move is to send them one version with it on and one with it off. But that final “make it loud” limiter? Take. It. Off.

What file format should I bounce my mix in?

Keep it simple: a 24-bit WAV file should be fine, but ask the mastering engineer to confirm.

And export it at the same sample rate as your session. If you recorded at 48kHz, export at 48kHz. Don’t upsample, don’t downsample. Just give us the high-quality 24-bit WAV.

And please, for the love of all that is heavy, never, ever send an MP3 for mastering. Just don’t.

What’s “stem mastering,” and is it a scam?

Not a scam, although it’s not common and generally we advise against it. Stem mastering is when you send the engineer a few “groups” of your mix instead of just one stereo file. Think:

1. Drums.wav
2. Bass.wav
3. Guitars.wav
4. Vocals.wav

It’s not a fix for a terrible mix, but it’s a super powerful tool. It usually costs more, but it can be worth it.

My Mix is Full of 8-String Guitars. How Do I Control the Low End?

This is the defining challenge of modern metal production. Eight and nine-string guitars live in the same sonic space as the bass guitar and the sub of the kick drum. A regular stereo EQ might not be enough to fix a muddy low end without gutting your whole track.

This is where mid-side and dynamic processing become essential tools.

Actionable Steps:

1. Mid-Side EQ: Use an M/S EQ like the one in iZotope Ozone or FabFilter Pro-Q 3. High-pass the “side” information up to around 120-150Hz. This collapses the sub-bass to the center (mono), making it tighter and more focused. A powerful, mono low-end translates better and has more impact on club systems.
2. Dynamic EQ / Multi-band Compression: The biggest problem is often resonant build-up from palm mutes. Use a dynamic EQ plugin to surgically duck specific low-end frequencies only when they get out of control. Set up a narrow band in your dynamic EQ (like the Waves F6 or Pro-Q 3) around that problematic “woof” (often between 80-200Hz) and set it to trigger only on the loudest chugs. This cleans up the mud without thinning out the track. For more general control, a multi-band compressor like FabFilter Pro-MB can be a godsend. For a deeper dive into taming those low-tuned beasts, check out our complete guide to EQing metal guitars for max impact.

How am I supposed to use a reference track?

Stop trying to copy it. A reference track is your reality check.

Pick a professional song in your exact subgenre. When you’re working on your master, flip to that reference track. Ask yourself:

• “Is my low-end as focused as theirs?”
• “Are my cymbals as harsh? (Hopefully not.)”
• “Is my vocal sitting in the same place?”
• “Is my master just as loud and punchy?”

It’s not about making your song sound like their song. It’s about making sure your song can stand next to theirs in a playlist without sounding weak or weird.

Why does my master sound sick in my studio but like muddy crap in my car?

Ah, the “car test.” Welcome to the club. This is all about translation.

Your room is lying to you.

We all have “problem rooms.” Maybe your room “eats” all the bass, so you add way too much. Then in your car, it’s a boomy, muddy nightmare.

This is literally the main problem mastering exists to solve. It’s the art of creating a balance that sounds good everywhere—on your studio monitors, in your car, on crappy earbuds, and on your friend’s laptop speakers.

How do I get that massive stereo width?

Carefully. This is where everyone messes up.

You can’t just slap a “stereo widener” plugin on the master and crank it. That’s a one-way ticket to a “phasey,” weak, and hollow-sounding track (especially in mono).

The truth? Real width comes from the mix. Hard-panning your double-tracked guitars, using stereo reverbs, and creating contrast—that’s the stuff.

In mastering, we can use M/S (Mid-Side) processing to enhance that width a bit. We can make the “side” info (where your guitars are) a little brighter, but we can’t create width that isn’t there in the first place.

My Kick and Snare Sound “Clicky” After Limiting. What’s Happening?

You spent hours getting your drums to punch, using samples from libraries like Get Good Drums or Superior Drummer 3. They sound amazing in the mix, but in the master, they just turn into thin, annoying clicks.

This usually happens when ultra-fast transients from sample-replaced drums slam into a final limiter. The limiter reacts so fast that it shaves off the “body” of the hit, leaving only the initial attack.

Actionable Steps:

1. Slower Limiter Attack: If your limiter allows, try ever-so-slightly slowing down the attack time. This will let a tiny bit more of the transient through before the gain reduction kicks in, which can help retain the sense of body. Be careful, as this can lead to clipping if you’re not cautious.
2. Saturation Before Limiting: A little tape or tube saturation can work wonders. Plugins like Soundtoys Decapitator or Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines can subtly round off those razor-sharp transients, making them more pleasing to the ear and easier for your limiter to handle. Even a little bit of analog flavor can make a huge difference.
3. Use a Clipper (Again): As mentioned before, clipping is your friend. By shaving a dB or two off the drum peaks with a clipper before the limiter, you’re essentially pre-processing them. The clipper does the heavy lifting on the transients, so the limiter can focus on increasing the overall level.

For more on using dynamics processors to solve these kinds of problems, explore our guide to metal compression secrets.

Do I really need different masters for Spotify and vinyl?

Yes. They’re totally different worlds.

• For Spotify/Streaming: These platforms use loudness normalization. If you make your track insanely loud, they just… turn it down. So, we create a master that’s loud and punchy, but still has some life, and sounds great at that normalized volume (around -14 LUFS).
• For Vinyl: This is a physical object, not data. Too much bass and the needle can literally jump out of the groove. Too many harsh “S” sounds can distort like crazy. You must have a separate, less-aggressive master with a carefully controlled low-end and tamed highs. Don’t ever send a digital/CD master to a vinyl plant.

What the heck is an ISRC code and do I need one?

An ISRC is a digital fingerprint for your song. It’s a unique code that tracks your song everywhere it gets played or sold. It’s how you get paid royalties.

Here’s the important part: You get these codes before mastering is finished.

The easiest way is from your digital distributor (DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, etc.). They will give you a unique code for each song. You then give that list of codes to your mastering engineer, and they embed them directly into the final files (the WAVs and the DDP).

My mastering guy asked if I want a “DDP.” What’s that?

If you’re making physical CDs, the answer is YES.

A DDP (Disc Description Protocol) is the “master copy” of your CD. It’s a special folder of files that you send to the CD factory. It has all the songs in the right order, the exact spacing between tracks, all your ISRC codes, and all the CD-Text (artist name, album title, etc.).

Don’t just send the factory a folder of WAVs. The DDP is the official, professional, un-screw-up-able way to do it.

Should I Master My Own Music or Hire a Pro?

With the tools we have now, there’s nothing stopping you from producing a legit, pro-quality master in your bedroom. The question is less about the gear and more about knowledge, perspective, and understanding the core differences between mixing and mastering.

The Case for DIY Mastering:
You have complete creative control, and it’s obviously cheaper. If you put in the time to learn, you can get fantastic results. You understand your music better than anyone.

The Case for Hiring a Pro:
A dedicated mastering engineer provides a fresh, unbiased set of ears. They work in an acoustically treated room and have specialized gear. Most importantly, they have the experience of mastering thousands of songs and know exactly how to make a track competitive in its genre.

The Hybrid Approach (The NTM Way):
Why not get the best of both worlds? Learn the techniques that the pros use every single day. By understanding their workflow, you can make smarter decisions in your own mixes that lead to better masters, whether you’re doing it yourself or sending it off.

Watching world-class producers like Will Putney, Dan Lancaster, or Andrew Wade tackle a master from start to finish is the ultimate cheat code. You get to see every plugin, every setting, and hear their thought process in real-time.

Our catalog of Nail The Mix sessions is packed with hundreds of hours of this exact kind of training. You get the raw multi-tracks from bands like Gojira, Lamb of God, and Knocked Loose, allowing you to learn the exact processes used on landmark metal albums. It’s the single best way to close the gap between your bedroom productions and the major label releases you look up to.