SoundBoost FAQ
Answers to common questions about mastering, your music, and SoundBoost.
Explore guides in the SoundBoost Wiki"Mastering is the art of presenting your mix in the best light possible. It is not about processing, it may be about how NOT to process." - Bob Katz
Mastering is the process of refining and polishing a piece of music to ensure it is ready for release. It is an art form that involves enhancing sonic materials, conducting a thorough evaluation of the mix, identifying any problems, and enhancing the overall sound to bring out the best in the material.
When done correctly, your song will feel more alive, loud, and satisfying, giving it that professional sound that listeners expect. Additionally, a good master usually results in a great audio experience on any platform, be it on headphones, speakers, or any other audio source. You get the idea!
When you submit your song to us, our complex algorithms begin to analyze the audio file, detecting its genre, BPM, LUFS, and any potential sonic needs. It then assembles a tailored signal chain from hundreds of modeled analog & digital processors (yes, including our new Tape Effect, Intensity curve, and True-Peak limiter modes). The whole render takes about 1 minute.
You can always compare your mastered track to the original mix by using our A/B feature and make revisions until you achieve the perfect master.
For subscribed users, we offer an extensive range of options to enhance your master, including a rich variety of saturation, compression, analog warmth, and width. These tools can help to add depth, warmth, and character to your final product, ensuring that it stands out from the crowd.
Mastering Engine v3.5 gives you six distinct AI mastering engineers (Default, Sophia, Alex, Marcus, Luna, Kai) analyzing your mix 30% deeper than our previous version, so you're getting genre-aware moves instead of a generic preset.
Pair that with prompt-to-mastering (type "give me festival energy" or "smooth out my jazz trio") and the engine chains the right EQ, compression, and saturation in seconds.
Here are some tips for preparing your mix for mastering:
1. Get a good mix: Before mastering, it's important to have a solid mix. This means making sure that each instrument is balanced and EQ'ed correctly, and that there is no distortion or clipping. Give yourself enough time to mix and listen to your tracks on different playback systems.
2. Make your headroom breathe: When exporting your mix, make sure to avoid clipping and distortion on your master bus and If possible, deliver your mix to us in the quietest form possible. (Loudness and clarity are our characteristic specialties, so you can count on us!)
3. Avoid over-processing: Master bus processing may needed in some songs, we understand that. But it's important to avoid over-processing in the mix stage. Too much compression or limiting in mix, can result in lifeless and flat master.
4. Use high-quality audio files: Make sure you're using high-quality audio files for the mix. Use 24-bit or 32-bit audio files at a sample rate of 44.1kHz or higher. Avoid using compressed audio formats like MP3s.
Just chat with us. It is an experience akin to having a chat with your own personal mastering engineer. You just tell us what you want your music to sound like. Maybe you want it punchy like a hip-hop hit, or raw like an old-school rock track. Whatever your style, just type it in as a prompt. Our system takes your words, figures out exactly what you're looking for, and applies that magic to your music. It's all about making your track sound like you imagine, using just a simple sentence or two. So go ahead, describe your dream sound, and we'll do the rest to make it come true!
Upload a WAV, pick an AI engineer, and you're hearing a streaming-ready online mastering in under a minute while the suite keeps loudness, true peak, and stereo balance dialed in automatically.
When you're happy, export and instantly convert to MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, AAC, or M4A in 16/24/32-bit at 44.1 or 48k with the built-in conversion feature.
Yes, our iOS app mirrors the web app so you can upload tracks, tweak prompts, and publish from your iPhone or iPad without losing quality.
Log in with your SoundBoost account and keep working wherever inspiration hits; your mastering history travels with you.
You're always in the driver's seat: dial intensity, toggle Analog Warmth, switch Mastering on/off to A/B, and pick the engineer profile that fits the vibe in real time.
Need something ultra-specific? Reference Mastering lets you select a favorite track and have the engine chase its loudness curve, tonal balance, and dynamics automatically.
Use our Loudness Penalty & Device Simulation tool to preview how Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, cars, laptops, and phones will treat your mix before you release.
For loudness prep, our browser-based LUFS meter and Loudness Range analyzer run locally with ITU-R BS.1770-4 accuracy, so you can trust every readout without uploading a file.
At SoundBoost, we aim for your music to sound its best from the start. Most times, our first try meets your needs and works everywhere. But remember, there's no single best setting. Sometimes, a small change or a new prompt can make your track perfect. If you like what you hear, just hit 'finalize mastering' to apply that algorithm to the entire song. Feel free to try different settings and prompts until it sounds just right to you. Finding your sound is all about exploring!
Every membership includes unlimited mastering credits and stem splitter runs. No more rationing exports or buying add-on packs just to finish an EP.
Pick the plan that fits: weekly for sprint releases, monthly for active artists, or annual for teams who live in the studio, all with the same pro feature set.
We don't train our models on your masters or hand them to third parties, period.
Client-side tools like the LUFS Meter, Loudness Penalty analyzer, and ID3 Tag Editor run entirely in your browser, isn't it so cool?