As the last stage of audio post-production, the aim of mastering is to add the final polishing touch to your music and turn the audio mix into a ready-to-go release. We’ve talked about the importance of music mastering multiple times, like in our guide on ‘How to master electronic music’, or in our articles on ‘How to record, mix, and master classical music’ and ‘Mastering Reverb: The Secret to a Killer Mix.’
In this article, we’re looking at a slightly different set of mastering tools — so-called AI mastering tools that are driven by AI technology to accomplish the same results as human beings. Let’s get into it!
The benefits of AI mastering
1. Affordability
Unlike professional mastering engineers, AI mastering tools tend to be extremely cost-effective. This is not to belittle the value of a mastering engineer, but if you’re looking for an affordable yet effective way to master your music, an AI mastering tool might be the perfect solution for you. Professional-like mastering software also tends to be quite costly, which simply makes the AI mastering tools a winner in saving costs.
2. Time-saving
Are you looking for ways to spare some time? AI tools can certainly help you! Unlike humans, who can only manually master one track at a time, AI mastering tools can edit and enhance multiple tracks simultaneously, having it done in just minutes!
3. Accessibility
Of course, with the power of the internet, AI mastering tools are accessible to nearly anyone. More importantly, however, they are accessible to everyone regardless of their knowledge of or experience in music production. The process of mastering AI is usually rather streamlined and easy to understand which itself helps save time.
4. Consistency
Consistency in sound is a crucial ingredient to making your music feel cohesive and unified. This, in return, enhances the listening experience of your fans, preventing your tracks from seeming all over the place. AI mastering tools can ensure consistency across multiple tracks, delivering polished masters time after time.
The best AI mastering tools on the market
Price: $10.00/track
With iMusician’s Instant Online Mastering tool, editing and polishing your music has never been easier. Our AI technology uses machine learning to mimic the same processes and sounds used by studio mastering engineers to elevate the sound quality of your tracks. The genre-specific options then ensure that your audio files always sound best in class with regard to your genre.
Additionally, our Online Instant Mastering tool ensures affordable and professional, polished by balanced sound in just minutes away! You get to save both time and expensive studio mastering costs while achieving a professional sound.
Are you already distributing your music with someone else? No problem at all! With Instant Online Mastering, you can download all your mastered tracks to your computer and use them however you like.
Features:
Your tracks will be polished in just minutes
Get unlimited free mastering previews — master the full song only when you love what you hear
All the mastered tracks meet the requirements of streaming and download platforms
Online audio mastering suitable for every genre, with genre-specific options
No limitations to your projects — you can upload and master as many tracks as you want
Easily downloadable tracks — you can use the tool even if you already distribute your music with someone else
You can master multiple tracks at the same time
You pay once per track, that’s it – no monthly subscription
Give your track that final touch with iMusician's Instant Online Mastering
2. LANDR Online Mastering
Price: From $12.50/month
The AI-powered tool by LANDR runs on an adaptive engine that pulls knowledge from thousands of mastered songs to offer a unique mastering solution for every track. Based on that, It is able to analyze and make amends to your tracks according to their genre, style, and other parameters.
Features:
Master songs from your web browser, Desktop App, or Mobile App
Free mastering previews
All mastered tracks are optimized for streaming — in MP3, WAV, or HD WAV formats
Get your songs mastered at an incredible speed
3. CloudBounce
Price: $10.90/track
CloudBounce was established in 2015 as an AI-powered mastering tool backed by some renowned names and parties in the audio industry, including Focusrite, ROLI, and Abbey Road Studios. Traditionally, the tool has offered online mastering with a simple web interface. Newly, you can also edit and polish your music in a new CloudBounce desktop app.
CloudBounce offers various effects to help you achieve your envisioned sound, including compression, EQ, limiting, stereo imaging, and others. Once you upload your track, the engine needs only a few minutes to showcase your new version of your audio file, after which you can either purchase the final master or tweak it with some additional simple choices.
Advantages:
Fast turnaround time and easy-to-use design
Possible real-time waveform preview before purchasing your master
You can easily share your mastered tracks with your listeners
Disadvantages:
There’s a limited option of preference styles
Their computer-generated algorithm won’t pick up on some nuances in the audio that a professional engineer could
4. eMastered
Price: From $13/month
Made by Grammy-winning engineers Smith Carlson and Colin McLoughlin, e-Mastered is an AI-powered online mastering tool that strives for a ‘professional sound in seconds.’ Designed to be professional yet fast and easy to use, the mastering application will analyze your audio and pick the tools that it needs to make your music sound crisper, louder, and more lively than the original.
Additionally, it offers reference mastering, meaning that you can upload a reference file alongside your own track and have the engine figure out why it sounds the way it does. Afterward, it automatically matches the loudness, balance, compression, and more to make your track sound (almost) like your favorite song.
Advantages:
Advanced Mastering options — you have some control over the intensity of several aspects, like EQ, compressions, stereo width, volume, or the overall strengths of the master
Master your music using reference mastering option
A customizable library page to share your music with your fans
Tracks statistics to see how many people have been listening to your music
Disadvantages:
You can download an unlimited number of masters per month only with a subscription plan
5. Maastr.io
Price: From $10/month
‘Built by engineers, for engineers,’ Maastr.io offers an automatic AI web app that allows artists to polish their music with genre-specific presets and complementary plugins for mixing and loudness. Highlighting the importance of streamlined workflow, the app enables users to master their music in three easy steps — upload, master, and export.
Additionally, Maastr.io allows for comprehensive mix notes, enabling individuals to better provide or receive feedback from their clients or collaborators. Users can pinpoint the exact section of the mix they’d like to change or amend.
Features:
AI-powered mastering done in just minutes
Genre-specific mastering presets & optional plugins for mixing and loudness
Cloud-based online processing
Improved communication and feedback process with collaborators and clients
Simplified iteration process — iterate with ease and store every revision for instant playback and easy comparison
6. Amuse Mastering
Price: $5/track
Amuse’s AI mastering tool is relatively new on the market and is powered by Masterchannel. The tool is very similar to the one from BandLab or eMastered. You simply use the Amuse website to upload your track and dive right into the mastering process. It should take only a few minutes until your track is mastered and ready to go.
Advantages:
You can re-upload your tracks as many times as you want
You can master multiple tracks at the same time
No technical experience required
Disadvantages:
The computer-generated algorithm won’t pick up on some nuances in the audio that a professional engineer could
Get a polished and professional sound in just minutes!
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