Master After the Vocals Go On: A Beat Maker's Guide
Published · by Loopin
Mastering a beat before the vocal exists locks in a level the vocal then has to fight. Master the finished song, with the vocal in, once and at the end.
Stop mastering the instrumental first
A beat mastered to the ceiling has no headroom left for the vocal. The artist or engineer then pushes the vocal against it, adds level and clips. The loudness you built into the beat is not the loudness of the song. A vocal adds energy in the 1–4 kHz range, and a master tuned to the instrumental alone will not take that into account.
Keep a loud version of the instrumental as a preview, since it sells beats, but treat it as a separate file. The one that matters for release is the final stereo mix of beat plus vocal. If you sell the beat as a lease, the buyer’s preview is the pre-vocal file and the song is a different product, which is why the two should never be the same bounce.
Set the order: mix first, master last
Order of work: beat with headroom, record, vocal mix, bounce the stereo mix, then master. That order stops you chasing level back and forth. Our post on mastering before or after mix approval covers when to freeze the mix.
If you are mixing the vocal yourself, bounce at about −6 dBFS with the limiter off the master bus. If you want a quick look at where it lands, preview a free online master first. Then do one thing: bounce a clean stereo WAV, name it with a version number, and move on. Do not keep nudging the mix after you have started comparing masters, or you will not know which change caused which difference.
Check the vocal against the beat before you bounce
Play the mix on phone speakers. The vocal should sit just ahead of the snare without the hi-hats poking out. If the 808 hides the vocal on a phone, fix that in the mix by lowering the 808 or lifting the vocal, not in mastering.
Do this check at low volume too. A mix that works quietly will survive a louder master. Then play the loudest section once at normal level: if the vocal disappears when the drums hit, lower the drum bus by 1 dB and test again before you bounce. Write down the setting you changed, in case the artist asks.
Master the bounce and A/B it level-matched
Upload the stereo bounce and master the song free online. Pick a feel that fits: Punchy or Club for a heavier, louder result (about −11 and −10 LUFS), Warm for something softer, or the default for streaming at about −14 LUFS.
Then flip the loudness-matched A/B between Original and Mastered. If the Mastered side only wins because it is louder, the match would have told you so; here the match is done for you, so trust what you hear. If you cannot decide, wait ten minutes and listen again; fatigue causes more bad calls than any plugin.
Listen for what a master cannot repair
Harsh S sounds, a boomy 808, a crushed chorus: those came from the mix. Automatic mastering takes no creative direction and will not rebuild a mix, so go back and fix the source, then master again. Previews are free and unlimited, so redoing it costs nothing but time.
When it sounds right, download the WAV. Free downloads are capped at 1 per 24 hours with no account and 2 with a free account, so pick your best version before using one. Keep the mix and the master together in one folder, with the same name and a version number, so a revision a week later starts from the right file. The full beat-to-release path is in how to master a beat.
Frequently asked questions
Should I master a beat before or after vocals?
After. Master the finished song with the vocal in. Keep any pre-vocal master only as a preview.
Can I master vocals and beat together?
Yes. Bounce one stereo mix of both and master that single file. Loopin takes a stereo mixdown, so a finished song is exactly what it expects, and a quick A/B shows whether the vocal still sits right.
How much headroom should my mix have before mastering?
Peaks around -6 dBFS with no limiter on the master bus is a safe target.
Does the vocal change how loud the master should be?
The vocal usually dominates how loud the song feels, so judge loudness with it in. Streaming sits near -14 LUFS, and a louder feel such as Club sits near -10 LUFS, so choose by where the song will play.
Can an automatic master fix a vocal that is too loud?
No. Fix vocal level in the mix, then master the updated bounce.