What reference mastering is
Mastering engineers always compare against reference tracks: releases in the same genre that sound the way the artist wants. Reference mastering automates that comparison: it measures the reference and adjusts your master to move closer to it.
What AI Master matches, and what it doesn't
- Tonal balance: how much low end, mids and highs, across the whole spectrum.
- Loudness: how loud it plays.
- Density: how much compression and peak control.
- Stereo image: how wide it sounds.
What it can't match is the mix: the vocal level against the beat, the sound of each instrument, the reverb or the arrangement. Mastering works in broad strokes on the whole song. If your mix and the reference are very different, the result gets closer but doesn't copy it.
How to pick a good reference
- Same genre and similar energy. A ballad is no reference for a club track.
- Similar arrangement. If your song is voice and guitar, find another voice-and-guitar song, not a full band.
- The best quality you can get. A WAV or FLAC is ideal. If it's an MP3 or AAC, AI Master detects it and won't copy its compression artifacts.
- A reference whose sound you truly like, not just the song.
How to do it with AI Master, for free
- Upload your mix, ideally a WAV or FLAC.
- Choose reference mode and upload the reference track.
- Set the matching intensity if you want it closer to or further from the reference.
- Listen before and after with "Match loudness" on, and read in the report what the AI decided and why.
- Download the master as WAV, FLAC or MP3.
No reference at hand? AI Master has 39 genre styles that set loudness, tonal balance, dynamics and stereo width.