Guides
Short, practical reads for people releasing AI-generated music. Written by a working engineer, measured with real files.
Free online mastering: what you actually get, and what is worth paying for
How free online mastering works in 2026, what a free preview can and cannot tell you, and how to hear 60 seconds of your own master — the loudest part — before paying anything.
6 min read
How to master Suno songs so they sound like a real release
A step-by-step guide to mastering Suno tracks: which file to download, what is actually wrong with Suno's output (measured), and how to fix it in about a minute.
7 min read
Mastering Udio tracks: getting from 'sounds good in the app' to release-ready
What to check before mastering a Udio track, which export to use, and how to bring it to commercial loudness without losing what made it sound good.
5 min read
Why AI-generated songs sound thin and quiet (and what fixes it)
Measured on 20 Suno tracks vs 83 commercial masters: AI music is 5 dB quieter, 4–5 dB brighter above 6 kHz, and thin in the low-mids. Here is what that means and how mastering addresses it.
6 min read
What is mastering? A plain-language guide for people who make music with AI
Mastering explained without jargon: what it does, what it does not do, how it differs from mixing, and why every released song goes through it.
5 min read
LUFS explained: the loudness targets for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and TikTok
What LUFS means, the normalization level each platform uses in 2026, and why mastering louder than the target costs you dynamics for nothing.
6 min read
How loud should my master be? Real numbers from 83 commercial releases
Commercial masters measured: where they actually sit in LUFS, why the 'loudness war' is mostly over for streaming, and how to choose a target for your track.
5 min read
Mastering for TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts
Short-form platforms compress audio hard and play it on phone speakers. Here is how to master an AI track so the hook survives the first three seconds.
5 min read
AI mastering vs a human mastering engineer: an honest comparison
Where AI mastering is genuinely as good, where a human engineer still wins, and how to decide which one your track needs — from someone who has done both.
6 min read
How to read your mastering report
Every MasteringOne master comes with a report: diagnosis, measurements, engineer's note and the chain. Here is what each section means and how to use it to ask for changes.
6 min read
Releasing AI-generated music: the checklist before you upload to a distributor
Rights, file format, loudness, metadata and artwork — the things that get AI tracks rejected or turned down, and how to handle each one before you hit upload.
6 min read
Suno WAV vs MP3: which download to use, and what the MP3 actually loses
Measured on real downloads: what an MP3 removes from a Suno track, when it matters, and how to master an MP3 if that is all you have.
4 min read
Suno song too quiet? How to make it louder without wrecking it
Why Suno tracks play 4–6 dB quieter than commercial releases, what 'just turn it up' breaks, and the right way to bring a Suno WAV to streaming loudness.
5 min read
Mastering for Spotify: the −14 LUFS question, answered with numbers
What Spotify's loudness normalisation actually does to your master, whether you should master to −14 LUFS, and the settings that play at full level without losing punch.
6 min read
Mastering for Apple Music: Sound Check, −16 LUFS and the −1 dBTP rule
How Apple Music's Sound Check normalises loudness, why Apple asks for −1 dBTP peaks and 24-bit files, and how to master one file that works for both Apple and Spotify.
5 min read
Mastering for YouTube: loudness normalisation, uploads and why videos sound quiet
How YouTube normalises audio to about −14 LUFS, what it does to loud and quiet uploads, and how to export music for YouTube so it plays at full level.
5 min read
True peak explained: dBTP, inter-sample peaks and why −1 dBTP matters
The difference between sample peak and true peak, why a file that never touches 0 dBFS can still clip after MP3 encoding, and the ceiling to use for streaming.
5 min read
Stereo width in AI music: what we measured, and when widening helps
Suno and Udio tracks are often described as 'narrow'. We measured side/mid balance on 20 files and found something different. When to widen, when not to, and how to check mono compatibility.
5 min read
Dynamic range for beginners: LRA, PLR and what 'over-compressed' really means
The two numbers that describe dynamics on a mastering report, what healthy values look like for pop, hip-hop and acoustic music, and how to tell whether a track has room left to master.
5 min read
Distributing AI music: the file requirements distributors actually check
WAV format, bit depth, sample rate, clipping, silence and loudness rules from major distributors, and the mastering steps that keep an AI-generated release from being rejected.
6 min read
Mastering an EP or album of AI tracks so every song sits at the same level
How to keep loudness, tone and true peak consistent across a multi-track AI release, when to match songs to each other instead of to a target, and the order that saves the most time.
5 min read
How to measure LUFS for free (and what to do with the number)
Three free ways to measure integrated LUFS and true peak, how to read the result, and the targets to compare against for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and local playback.
4 min read