Mastering vs Mixing: Which One is More Important?

Mixing and mastering are both part of audio engineering, a broad field that requires a profound understanding of how sound behaves in diverse environments, how it can be manipulated, and what equipment and techniques are needed to achieve specific sonic outcomes.

Although mixing and mastering revolve around polishing a track, they differ from each other in fundamental ways. Those starting out may wonder if both are truly necessary, and which one is more important. Before we answer the question, let’s look into the key differences between mastering vs mixing.

Mixing is the step that follows the creative part of music production, during which artists focus on the sound selection, composition, and arrangement of a track. Once a track is assembled and all elements are chosen, it is forwarded to a mixing engineer (or mixed by the producer if they feel confident in their mixing skills).

At its core, mixing is about ‘cleaning up’ and balancing all elements that constitute a track and shaping how they interact with each other. The goal is to create clarity, depth, and space for each element so that everything feels cohesive and nothing is fighting for attention.

Mixing can either be done right after producing by routing each element to its own channel strip in your DAW, or by exporting your project into stems (individual audio files that represent separate elements or grouped sections of your track) and mixing in a separate session. The second approach is usually the go-to if you're sending your track to a professional mixing engineer.

The mixing process consists of multiple steps, including balancing, EQing, panning, shaping dynamics, and building dimension by applying different effects. There’s no single step-by-step approach to mixing, considering that it requires frequently going back and forth to make readjustments.

That said, engineers often start by cleaning up unwanted frequencies, such as removing unnecessary low-end rumble from elements that do not revolve around low frequencies. This process is done with EQs (equalizers), helping avoid frequency clashes and making space for elements that live in the low end, like kicks and bass.

Another core part of mixing is panning, the process of placing sounds across the stereo field (left to right), so that everything doesn’t come from the center. Balancing revolves around determining the volume levels of each element, so that important ones (like vocals or leads) cut through, while background elements sit further back without cluttering the mix.

Dynamics are shaped with tools like compressors to control volume spikes and make elements feel more consistent across the track. The mixing process also involves building dimension with effects like reverb, delay, and echo. These effects help place sounds in a space and glue the track together, so it sounds full and multidimensional.

What mixing does not involve is processing the so-called master bus, the final stereo output where all individual audio tracks come together. That part is reserved for mastering, which we’ll look into next.

We’ve previously answered the question ‘what is mastering?’ in one of our articles, which we recommend looking into if you want to dive into the details and nuances of mastering. We’ll outline it here again, more concisely, to then look at how exactly mastering differs from mixing.

Mastering is the final step in music production during which a track is prepared for release. The goal of mastering is to make a track sound polished and consistent across all playback systems and platforms. Engineers work on the entire exported song rather than individual audio tracks, which have already been taken care of during the mixing process.

Mastering engineers take care of everything from final EQ and dynamics to the order and spacing of songs, making sure listeners aren’t reaching for the volume knob between tracks. They make sure a song hits platform-specific loudness targets and adjust for other technicalities, such as choosing the right file format (usually WAV or FLAC), embedding metadata like track titles and ISRC codes, and adapting to distribution standards.

To get there, mastering engineers rely on a mix of tools—EQs, limiters, stereo imagers, phase meters, and more. While DIY mastering is more accessible than ever, professional mastering can still make a noticeable difference—especially if your track is headed for commercial release. Alternatively, artists can use online audio mastering tools if they cannot afford working with a professional studio, need quick results, or simply don’t possess the skills to do it themselves.

Learn more about loudness in our article about the loudness war in mastering.

Now that we’ve clarified what the two fields entail, let’s look into a list of key differences between the two.

1. Both mixing and mastering are essential steps, with mixing laying the foundation and mastering adding the final polish.

2. Mixing involves manipulating separate audio channels; mastering processes a single stereo file.

3. Mixing balances and blends individual tracks like vocals and drums, while mastering works on the final stereo mix as a whole.

4. Mixing focuses on clarity and space between elements; mastering revolves around consistency and polish across different playback systems.

5. Mixing addresses individual track issues like frequency clashes; mastering balances the entire frequency spectrum for the final output.

6. Mixing adjusts volume, EQ, effects, and panning for each element; mastering adjusts overall loudness, tone, and dynamics for the entire track.

7. Mixing engineers create the song’s emotional impact; mastering engineers make sure that impact translates well everywhere.

Now that we’ve outlined the differences between mastering and mixing, let’s look into which one is more important. You most likely already know the answer: both are equally important if you want your track to meet industry and platform standards.

Skilled mixing is essential to make sure your track doesn’t sound muddy, imbalanced, or like every element is coming from the same place. It’s what gives each sound its space and creates clarity and depth. Solid mastering, on the other hand, guarantees your track sounds clear and consistent across all playback systems and streaming platforms. It also makes sure the loudness is on point and meets the technical requirements of streaming platforms.

If you skip one of them, your track might either sound messy and unpolished (without proper mixing) or fall apart on different playback systems and platforms (without mastering).

At this point, it is also important to note that professional mastering won’t fix a bad mix, which is where the phrase ‘fix it in the mix’ comes from. If the mastering process reveals issues that appear unsolvable, such as one element standing out too much and making it difficult to adjust for loudness, the problem likely lies in the mix. Similarly, a good mix won’t ‘save’ bad mastering. If you lack the experience to understand how mastering works, especially how to use limiters and compressors to balance loudness with dynamics, it can very much ruin the mix.

So, while they each do different things, you absolutely need both. And, you need to do both of them right.