📑 Sections (3)

1. What mastering does to your vocal

The limiter changes the balance and brings out sibilance and brightness. What happens to the vocal in mastering and what it has to bring resolved from the mix.

Mastering works on the whole song, without touching the vocal separately. But the vocal is the first thing the listener notices, and any change in the overall balance affects it.

What happens to your vocal

What changes when limiting

  • Sibilance and brightness get brought out. The master’s compression and limiter bring the highs forward. A just-right vocal stays fine; a bright one gets sharp.
  • The vocal tends to drop in the mix. Drum hits and dense guitars push the limiter, and sometimes the vocal seems to sit further back than before.
  • Tails rise. Reverb, delay and breaths gain relative level. What was only slightly too much becomes noticeable.
  • It gains cohesion. The good part: it gets more integrated with the band.

What mastering CAN’T do

What it has to bring resolved

🟠 Better to set it now· in mixing

If the vocal ends up low in the master, fixing it means going back to the mix and exporting again. Having this sorted beforehand saves you redoing the work.

  1. The lyrics can be understood at low volume.
  2. Sibilance under control, a little below what seems just right to you.
  3. Moderate space: the limiter will bring up the tails.
  4. Margin: mix peaks near −6 dBFS, with no limiter.

An alternate version, just in case

Export the main mix and, while you’re at it, a version with the vocal 1 dB higher. It costs you a minute, and if the vocal ends up low in the master, you already have the solution.

What NOT to chase yet

Quick path: thinking about mastering from the vocal

Quick path

  1. Listen to the mix at low volume: can all the lyrics be understood?
  2. Leave the sibilance a little below what seems just right.
  3. Check that reverb and delay aren't too much.
  4. Export with no limiter, with peaks near −6 dBFS.
  5. Also export a version with the vocal 1 dB higher.

Expected result

Expected result

Understanding that mastering gives the final shape but doesn’t correct the vocal, and knowing what has to come resolved. With that clear, next is the detail: how much presence and what loudness to aim for.