Mixing — this is the process of processing and blending all the elements of a track into a cohesive and balanced sound. The main goal of mixing is to ensure that every part of the track sounds clear, polished, and doesn’t clash with the others.
Mastering — this is the final stage of processing a music track before its release. The main goal of mastering is to achieve optimal loudness, balance the frequencies, enhance the track’s dynamics, and ensure it sounds great across different devices and acoustic environments.
Devices used for audio processing:
These are all fantastic tools — but first and foremost, your best friends will be gain and volume. Both can be translated as “loudness,” but they refer to different things.
Gain is the input level — how loud the signal is before any processing.
(Example: how hard you're shouting into the mic, or how strong the signal is at the very start.)
Volume is the output level — how loud the signal is after it's been processed.
(Example: your processed vocal and how loud it sits in the mix.)
You’ve probably heard the term gain staging before — so let’s break down what it actually means ⬎