How can you use mastering to create consistent sound across podcast episodes?

1 Why mastering matters

Mastering is not the same as mixing. Mixing is the process of adjusting the levels, panning, EQ, and effects of each individual track in your podcast episode. Mastering is the process of applying global adjustments to the entire episode, such as compression, limiting, normalization, and dithering. Mastering matters because it can make your podcast sound more polished, balanced, and professional. It can also help you meet the industry standards for loudness and dynamic range, which are important for delivering a consistent listening experience to your audience.

2 How to master your podcast episodes

There are different ways to master your podcast episodes, depending on your budget, skills, and preferences. You can use a dedicated mastering software, such as iZotope Ozone or LANDR, which offer presets, tools, and tutorials for mastering audio. You can also use a mastering plugin, such as Waves L3 or Auphonic, which can be inserted into your audio editing software, such as Audacity or Adobe Audition. Alternatively, you can hire a professional mastering engineer, who can provide you with expert feedback and custom adjustments for your podcast.

3 What to look for in mastering

No matter how you master your podcast episodes, there are some essential elements to consider. Loudness is the perceived volume of your podcast episode and should be loud enough to be heard clearly, but not too loud that it causes distortion or clipping. LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale) is a standard for broadcast and streaming platforms and the recommended LUFS level for podcasts is -16 LUFS for stereo and -19 LUFS for mono. Dynamic range is the difference between the loudest and quietest parts of your podcast episode, and should be balanced with compression to reduce peaks and boost valleys. Frequency balance is the distribution of low, mid, and high frequencies in your podcast episode, which should be balanced to create a clear, natural, and pleasant sound. Lastly, noise reduction is the removal of unwanted sounds in your podcast episode, such as hum or hiss, which can be done with noise reduction tools such as gates, filters, or denoisers. All of these elements can help create a professional and credible sound for your podcast.

4 What to avoid in mastering

Mastering your podcast can provide a great sound, but it can also cause problems if done incorrectly. To avoid common mistakes, you should be aware of over-compressing, over-limiting, over-EQing, and over-processing. Over-compressing can make your sound flat, lifeless, and distorted; over-limiting can reduce the quality and detail of your sound; over-EQing can create unwanted peaks or dips in the frequency spectrum; and over-processing can create conflicts, artifacts, or noise in your sound. All of these issues can make your podcast boring, fatiguing, harsh, unpleasant, muddy, thin, unclear and unprofessional.

5 How to check your mastering results

When mastering your podcast episode, it's essential to check your results before you publish or distribute it. To do this, you should listen on different devices and speakers, such as headphones, earbuds, speakers, or car stereo. This will help you make sure that your podcast sounds consistent and good on various platforms. Additionally, compare your podcast with other podcasts in your niche or genre to ensure it sounds competitive and comparable. You can also use a metering tool to measure and analyze the technical aspects of your podcast sound, like loudness, dynamic range, frequency balance, and noise level. Lastly, ask for feedback from someone else to get an objective perspective on your podcast sound and make sure it appeals to your audience.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?