The Analog Mastering Desk

Online analog mastering is a mastering service that runs your music through real analog hardware, not just digital plugins. Your finished mix is processed through high-end outboard gear from renowned brands like API, Neve and Manley.

With our online mastering service, you simply upload your finished mix and the Analog Mastering Desk handles the rest. Each track gets analog EQ and tone shaping, tonal balance correction, stereo balancing and loudness optimization, for a polished, release-ready sound on every streaming platform.

Listen to a free mastered sample within minutes before you buy. Once you’re happy with it, download your professional master as a 24-bit or 16-bit WAV for just $14.99.

Mastering is the final step of music production, after mixing and before release. A mastering engineer or mastering service shapes the overall tone, balance, stereo image and loudness of the finished mix, so it sounds polished, consistent and competitive on every system and streaming platform.

Music mastering also prepares the file for release: the right format, level and true-peak ceiling for distributors and streaming services.

Mixing balances the individual tracks of a song, such as vocals, drums, bass and instruments, into one stereo mix. Mastering works on that finished stereo mix as a whole, adding EQ, tone, stereo balance and loudness so the song is ready for release. Upload your finished mix here, and the desk handles the mastering.

Upload your finished mix as a WAV, AIFF, FLAC, M4A or MP3, choose the style closest to your genre and a loudness level, then press Start Mastering. Your track is mastered through the analog chain and you can hear a free preview of the master. If you like it, download it as a 24-bit or 16-bit WAV for $14.99.

Most online mastering services process your track entirely in software, with plugins or AI. The Analog Mastering Desk sends your mix through a physical analog chain, with real outboard gear from API, Neve and Manley running at 96 kHz, and records it back through a Lynx Hilo converter.

You still get the speed of online mastering: upload your mix, hear a free preview in minutes, and pay only if you want to download the master.

Usually just a few minutes. Your track passes through the analog gear in real time, so mastering takes about as long as your song, plus the time needed for any tracks ahead of yours in the queue. You can watch its progress through the signal chain while you wait.

Analog processing can add warmth, depth, punch and dimension to your music. Real hardware introduces subtle harmonic saturation and natural tonal color that can make your mix sound richer, more cohesive and more polished. It helps bring out musical detail and gives your master an engaging, finished sound, while preserving the character of your track.

A WAV, AIFF, FLAC, M4A or MP3 of your finished, unmastered mix, at its original sample rate. For the best results, leave peaks around -6 dB, with no limiter or heavy master-bus compression applied before export.

You can, but we don’t recommend it. A mastered track has already been limited and compressed, so there’s little headroom or dynamic range left for the analog chain to work with, and mastering it again can make it sound flat or over-compressed.

Choose the style closest to your genre: Pop, EDM, Hip-hop, Rock, Acoustic or Lo-fi. Not sure? Start with Balanced, then try a couple of other styles and compare. You might be surprised which one sounds best for your track!

Gentle aims for about -12 LUFS and keeps the most dynamics, which suits acoustic, jazz and classical music. Standard aims for about -10 LUFS, a competitive level for most genres. Loud aims for about -8 LUFS for dense, high-energy styles like EDM and hip-hop. All three keep true peaks at or below -0.3 dBTP, and if a track can’t reach its target without being squashed, the system stops short to protect the sound.

Streaming services turn loud songs down to a common playback level: about -14 LUFS on Spotify and YouTube, and about -16 LUFS on Apple Music. Mastering louder than that won't make your song louder on those platforms, but many genres are still mastered louder for their density and energy.

Choose Gentle to keep the most dynamics, Standard for a competitive level for most genres, or Loud for dense, high-energy styles. Every master keeps true peaks at or below -0.3 dBTP, so it converts cleanly on streaming platforms.

Yes. You can hear a free preview of your master online, with no credit card or sign-in required. The preview plays the loudest section of your master, so you can judge the result before deciding whether to purchase the full master.

A release-ready master as a 24-bit or 16-bit (CD) WAV file, with true peaks at or below -0.3 dBTP for clean playback on streaming services. The results also show the loudness, dynamics, stereo width and EQ changes.

Yes. Every purchase includes a 16-bit WAV, the bit depth used on audio CDs, along with the 24-bit WAV for streaming. Use the 16-bit file for CD mastering needs such as burning your own CDs, CD duplication or a CD release through your distributor.

For an album sent to a CD pressing plant, which usually needs a DDP image and the songs matched to each other, contact The Analog Mastering Desk.

$14.99 per track. Preview your master for free, then pay only to download it. One payment unlocks both 24-bit and 16-bit WAVs, available to download for 3 days. The price is always shown before you pay.

No. You can pay securely through PayPal’s checkout without creating a PayPal account. When the payment window opens, continue to the next step and choose the option to pay with a major credit or debit card.

Yes. Your master is a standard WAV with true peaks at or below -0.3 dBTP, ready to upload to any distributor, such as DistroKid, TuneCore or CD Baby, which delivers it to Spotify, Apple Music and the other platforms. Use the 24-bit WAV unless your distributor asks for 16-bit.

Yes. This is real analog processing, not a plugin emulation. Your mix is processed through our high-end physical analog chain at 96 kHz. You can watch its progress through the signal path at the top of the page and see exactly which gear your track is passing through.

No. The analog chain processes one track at a time, so every track gets the gear’s full attention. If other tracks are ahead of yours, yours waits in a first-come, first-served queue, and the page shows your place in line until your turn begins.

It’s automated, but not AI mastering in the typical software-only sense. Automated analysis determines the EQ and level settings for your chosen style, while the actual sound is shaped through real analog outboard gear, including API, Neve, and Manley, running at 96 kHz. The final stage then sets the overall loudness.

Yes. Keep this page open until your master is ready. Closing the tab or leaving the page cancels the job, so the analog chain can move on to the next track in line. On a phone, keep the browser open on this page rather than switching to another app.

Yes. Your mix and master are kept private. Working files are automatically deleted from the mastering server, while finished masters are retained for one week and then permanently deleted.

Sometimes. The desk gives you a fast, consistent master through real analog gear. A mastering engineer adds an experienced, objective set of ears: someone who listens to your whole project, hears what’s working and what isn’t, and makes decisions a preset can’t, such as flagging problems in the mix or matching the songs of an album to each other. If that’s what your project needs, contact The Analog Mastering Desk.