Mastering
questions.

An uncompressed WAV at the exact sample rate and bit depth of your session — 44.1 or 48 kHz, 24-bit. We prefer 48 kHz only when that's what you recorded at; never upsample. Turn dither off when exporting at native bit depth. Name each file with the track title. No MP3, AAC or other lossy formats.

Yes — limiting must be off. Light bus processing is fine if it's part of the sound: up to 3 dB of compression, EQ moves under 3 dB, and no stereo wideners. Ideally, mix without a limiter from the start, because taking it off at the end changes your balance.

Leave the master fader at 0 dB. Select all your track faders and pull them down together until the peaks sit in range.

Peaks between −3 and −6 dB True Peak (−6 to −9 is fine too), measured on a True Peak meter rather than a standard sample-peak meter. Headroom isn't loudness — that's our job.

About one second before the first sound, and two seconds after the last reverb or delay tail has fully died away. Set the export range by hand rather than using "bounce to end." Tell us if the pre-roll noise is intentional.

Yes. Send the clean mix for mastering plus your limited "homebrew" version as a reference. Unsure whether your bus processing helps? Send one version with it and one without.

Sum the mix to mono and listen on one speaker for parts that thin out or vanish (often fake double-tracking or stereo wideners). Clean up count-ins, clicks and handling noise, and crossfade every edit.

Send two stems, vocals and instrumental, exported from the same start and end points with all effects and bus processing on, so we can fine-tune the balance. A vocal + instrumental job is charged at the PH Enhanced rate, $80 per track.

Export every stem from identical start and end markers, sample-aligned, with full tails. Stem mastering covers up to four stereo stems (for example drums, bass, music and vocals) at $120. With 6–8 stems it becomes a stem mix & master session ($650), and 9–12 stems is $1,200 — both include the mix and the master.

Through the upload link in your order confirmation email.

It's the last step after mixing. Working from your mix, the engineer refines tone, dynamics and stereo width so the song translates to every system, sets the right loudness for where it's going, balances multi-track releases into one whole, and checks every file for faults before release. Part technical, part taste — done with fresh ears in an accurate room.

Our preferred service: hybrid mastering plus Planet Hum's own enhancement process, working from a standard stereo mix. It is not stem mastering — you don't need to send stems.

Digital tools give us precision and flexibility; analog hardware adds depth, character and musicality. That combination is how we like to work — it's our approach, not a claim that great masters can't be made any other way.

We can make it as loud as the mix allows. Past a certain point, loudness costs punch and depth — and streaming platforms turn loud masters down anyway — so we master for where the track is going.

Yes — a free evaluation of your mix is available before mastering starts. Just ask when you order, and if a change at the mix stage would give you a better master, we'll tell you.

Not at the moment.

"Mastered at Planet Hum Mastering" — appreciated, never required.

Stereo $50, PH Enhanced $80 and Stem $120 per track. EP and album mastering is quoted per project — just get in touch. Alternate versions are $20 each. See pricing.

48 hours or less from when all files and notes are received. The studio works Monday to Friday, so files that arrive on a Friday are delivered on Monday or Tuesday, depending on the work. Larger EP and album projects get an agreed schedule.

A 24-bit / 48 kHz WAV master, ready for the major streaming platforms, plus an MP3.

One revision round per order, on the mix as originally sent. Further revision work is $50/hour.

Yes. Every order includes a master ready for the major streaming platforms.