A Logic Pro Mastering Chain That Works (Stock Plugins Only)

Logic Pro ships with everything you need to master a record. Not "everything you need if you are on a budget." Everything you need, period. The Compressor plugin alone contains seven modeled circuits that companies sell separately for $150 each, and Logic's stock Limiter in True Peak mode is quietly one of the cleanest in any DAW.

What Logic does not ship with is the knowledge of which plugins, in which order, doing what. That is this article. Same philosophy as my Ableton chain, translated into Logic's toolset, because the structure of good mastering does not change between DAWs. Only the devices do.

The chain

All stock. Here is each stage with the settings that matter.

Stage 1: Channel EQ, surgical mode

High-pass at 20 to 30 Hz, 12 dB/octave. Then hunt resonances with the analyzer on: narrow Q, find the frequency that jumps out ugly, cut 2 to 4 dB. Logic's analyzer view makes this easier than most DAWs, use it.

Rule from the Ableton article that applies double here: if you need more than a couple of meaningful cuts, the mix needs work, not the master. Mastering EQ is a scalpel, not a shovel.

Stage 2: Compressor in Studio VCA mode

Open Logic's Compressor and switch the circuit to Studio VCA. That is Logic's take on the SSL-style bus compressor, the same family as Ableton's Glue, and it is genuinely good.

Ratio 2:1, attack around 10 to 30 ms, release on Auto, threshold down until the loudest sections show 1 to 2 dB of reduction. The mix should feel more like one object, not more squashed. If you hear pumping, the attack is too fast or the reduction too deep.

Stage 3: the musical EQ

Two good options. Channel EQ again with broad, gentle moves is the clean path. Or, for character, Logic's Vintage Tube EQ (the Pultec-style model): the classic move is boosting lows slightly at 60 Hz while also engaging the attenuator, which tightens while it thickens, plus a gentle high shelf for air.

Whichever you pick: every move under 1.5 dB, wide Q, and level match before judging.

Stage 4: Multipressor

Logic's multiband compressor. Same two jobs as always:

Low band: crossover around 120 Hz, compress just the low band 1 to 2 dB with slower attack. Consistent sub between sections is the least glamorous, most professional thing a master can have.

High mids: if the record turns harsh in the 2 to 5 kHz zone at volume, set that band to compress only on the spikes. One or two dB. This is de-harshing without darkening the whole record.

Turn the other bands' compression effectively off (threshold up) unless you have a specific reason. Four bands of active compression is how masters die.

Stage 5: Direction Mixer

Logic's stereo tool. Spread at 1.0 by default, up to about 1.1 if the mix genuinely needs width. Then the non-negotiable check: click the mono button (or drop a Gain plugin set to mono after it) and listen to the whole drop. If elements vanish in mono, widening is the enemy, not the fix. Club systems and phone speakers both sum toward mono, and the low end should stay mono below roughly 120 Hz regardless.

Stage 6: density

The pre-limiter loudness stage. Two stock paths in Logic:

Phat FX with just the Distortion module on Soft Saturation, very low drive, mix pulled back to taste. Or the Tape emulation on subtle settings for the classic rounding.

Either way the goal is identical to the Saturator stage in Ableton: harmonic density your ear reads as loud and full, so the limiter works less. Output level matched, always, or you will fool yourself.

Stage 7: Logic's Limiter, with True Peak on

Open the stock Limiter (not Adaptive Limiter for this job; the plain Limiter is cleaner). Turn True Peak detection on and set the output ceiling to -1.0 dBTP. That protects your master through streaming transcoding, where peaks can rise during encoding.

Push the gain until the loudest sections show 2 to 3 dB of reduction, then stop. If it is not loud enough there, the fix lives in stages 2 through 6, or in the mix. For where the final number should land, here are the real loudness targets by genre, and here is the short version: competitive is a range, not a war.

Working habits that outweigh the settings

Master in a fresh session on a different day. Bounce the mix, open a new project, import it next to two or three commercial references, level matched. Distance is the closest thing to fresh ears you can manufacture.

Check on three systems minimum. Your monitors, cheap earbuds, and a phone speaker. A master that survives all three translates.

Verify before you distribute. Loudness in genre context, true peak safety after encoding, the technical issues distributors flag: that is a two-minute check on Masterproof, free for your first master.

And if you run the chain and the honest verdict is that the record deserves better than your room and your ears can give it right now, that is not failure, that is information. Prep the mix properly and send it to someone who does this daily. The song only gets released once.