Should I self-master or pay a pro for my first release?
Budget is tight. AI mastering tools are everywhere. Worth it to pay $80–$150 a song for a real engineer?
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Community Discussion(1)
Pay a pro for your first release. Not because you can't learn — because you don't yet have the reference for what 'good' sounds like in your room. One pass from a pro on a song you mixed teaches you more than a year of YouTube. After that, self-master with confidence.
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Recently corrected
- Updated: -14 LUFS is a normalization target, not a mastering target.by loudnessdb · 6h ago
- Clarified the dynamic EQ release time (80 ms, not 200 ms).by lowendlab · yesterday
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