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MASTERING CHAIN
GENERATOR
A mastering chain is the ordered series of processors a finished mix passes through to become a release: cleanup EQ, glue compression, tone, low-end control, width, saturation and a limiter. The order matters as much as the plugins, so this builder lays out the whole sequence for your DAW, your plugins and your genre, with starting settings for every stage.
I master my own releases (50M+ streams through Sony, Universal, Ultra, and Dim Mak), and every chain I build follows this structure. Tap your setup and the chain rebuilds instantly. The link updates with it, so you can share the result.
Your setup
BCA-TL-05
Your mastering chain · 9 stages
Ableton Live
, Stock devices
EDM / house / techno · Streaming
Club music pushes low-end control, saturation and the limiter hardest. The low end stays mono, the clipper takes the peaks, and the limiter still does no more than 2 to 3 dB.
Your mix
A finished mix peaking around -6 dBFS, with no limiter on the mix bus. Build it on the Main track of a finished mix, or a fresh session with the bounced file.
Stage 1: Cleanup EQ
EQ Eight
- High-pass 20 to 30 Hz, 12 dB/octave
- Sweep for resonances: narrow Q, boost to find, then cut 2 to 4 dB
- Usually one or two, often in the low mids
Removes what shouldn't be in the master at all, before anything else reacts to it.
Five cuts deeper than 4 dB means the mix needs the fix, not the master.
Stage 2: Glue compression
Glue Compressor
- Ratio 2:1
- Attack 10 or 30 ms
- Release Auto
- Threshold down to 1 to 2 dB of reduction on the loudest sections
Makes the kick, bass and everything above them move as one record. Glue, not loudness.
If you can clearly hear it working, back off.
Stage 3: Tonal EQ
EQ Eight (second instance)
- Broad strokes, low Q, every move under 1.5 dB
- Air: a half dB of shelf above 8 kHz
Broad, gentle tone: air, weight, character. Every move under 1.5 dB.
Stage 4: Low-end control
Multiband Dynamics
- Low crossover around 120 Hz
- Compress the low band only: slow attack, 1 to 2 dB of reduction
- Ignore the rest of the interface
Keeps the sub consistent between sections, which is half of what makes a master feel professional on a big system.
Stage 5: Width and mono
Utility
- Width 100% by default
- Flip to mono after every change
- Keep everything below roughly 120 Hz mono
Sets the stereo image and keeps the low end mono, because club systems and phone speakers sum toward mono.
For a precise low-end split, two Utilities in an Audio Effect Rack.
Stage 6: Saturation
Saturator
- Soft Sine mode
- Drive 1 to 3 dB
- Output compensated so on and off match in level
Harmonic density your ear reads as louder and fuller, so the limiter works less.
Stage 7: Clipper
Saturator (second instance) as a clipper
Recent Live 12: the Limiter's Soft Clip ceiling mode does the same job
- Post Clip Mode: Hard Clip, or Soft Clip if it bites
- 1 to 2 dB off the loudest peaks
- Level-match before you judge it
Shaves the sharpest peaks instantly, so the limiter after it ducks less and the master keeps its punch.
Stage 8: Limiter
Limiter
- Ceiling -1.0 dB, True Peak mode on (Live 12)
- Gain up until 2 to 3 dB of reduction on the loudest sections, then stop
- Landing around -8 LUFS or louder: ceiling -1.5 dBTP
Sets the ceiling and catches peaks. If the record isn't loud enough at 2 to 3 dB of reduction, the fix is upstream.
On Live 11, confirm true peak on a meter after it.
Stage 9: Metering
Youlean Loudness Meter 2 (free)
- Last on the Main track, after the limiter
- Reset, then play the whole song, start to end
- Read Integrated LUFS, Short-term Max and True Peak Max
- Short-term Max no more than 3 LU above Integrated
Reads integrated loudness and true peak on the whole song, so the final number isn't a guess.
Release master
Ceiling at -1.0 dBTP (-1.5 if very loud), integrated loudness inside the genre range below.
Where it should land
Integrated LUFS on the full track. The range commercial releases in the genre land in. Source: How loud should my master be.
Around -8 LUFS or louder, consider -1.5 to -2.0 dBTP: louder files gain more peak level in encoding.
Streaming: Spotify, YouTube, TIDAL and Amazon Music normalize to about -14 LUFS, Apple Music to -16. A louder master gets turned down to match, which is clean; crushing it to get loud is what costs you. Master to the genre range, not to -14.
Before you export
- Loudness-match every before and after. Louder always sounds better for about ninety seconds. How to loudness-match
- Two or three reference tracks in your genre, lossless, routed around the master bus and turned down to your level. How to use reference tracks
- True peak at or under the ceiling on a true peak meter, read after the limiter, on the whole song. What true peak is
- Mono check on the loudest section. If the lead or the chorus vanishes, undo the width. Mono compatibility
The full guide
The Ableton mastering chainPrebuilt for your setup
Ultimate Master Chain: Ableton
The same job as the chain above, already built and gain-staged: stock devices only, one rack.
My Ableton chain, built entirely from stock plugins as one rack with 8 macros. No third-party plugins, no extra spend.
- Included
- Live 11 and Live 12 versions both included
- You need
- Ableton Live 11 or 12, Standard or Suite. macOS and Windows.
One time. Lifetime access, free updates.
HOW IT WORKS
01
Tell it your setup
Your DAW, the plugins you'll master with, the genre, and where the record is going. Add any mix issues you can hear.
02
Get the chain in order
Every stage with the exact plugin, starting settings as ranges, and one line on why it's there. Stages your genre barely needs are marked optional.
03
Load it on a finished mix
Copy the chain, build it on a mix peaking around -6 dBFS, and judge every move against a reference at matched loudness.
The order never changes. Clean first, glue second, shape third, control fourth, then density, then the ceiling. Each stage hands a better signal to the next, which is why a limiter that sounds bad is usually reporting problems created upstream.
How hard each stage works does. Club music pushes low-end control, saturation and the limiter harder; dynamic genres barely touch them. A mix issue adds a targeted move to the stage that fixes it, and the loudness range comes from my loudness targets by genre, with the ceiling at -1.0 dBTP for the reasons in what true peak is.
Plugin names come from my guides, not guesses. Where I haven't documented a DAW's stock plugins (Studio One, Cubase), the builder names the job and offers free plugins that run anywhere. And no chain fixes a mix that isn't ready: prep the mix first.
MASTERING CHAIN BY DAW AND PLUGIN SET
The chain each of my guides builds, in order. Open the guide for the reasoning, or load it into the builder and set your genre.
Ableton Live, stock
EQ Eight, Glue Compressor, EQ Eight, Multiband Dynamics, Utility, Saturator, Limiter
FL Studio, stock
Fruity Parametric EQ 2, Fruity Compressor, Fruity Soft Clipper, Maximus, Fruity Stereo Shaper, Fruity Limiter
Logic Pro, stock
Channel EQ, Compressor (Vintage VCA), Vintage Tube EQ, Multipressor, Direction Mixer, Phat FX or Tape, Limiter with True Peak on
Pro Tools, stock
EQ III (7-band), Pro Compressor, Pultec EQP-1A (optional), Pro Multiband Dynamics (optional), Pro Limiter
iZotope Ozone, any DAW
Equalizer, Dynamics (one band), Equalizer 2 or Stabilizer, Low End Focus, Imager, Exciter, Maximizer
Waves, any DAW
F6, SSL G-Master Buss Compressor, PuigTec EQP-1A, C4 Multiband, S1 Stereo Imager, J37 Tape or NLS, L2 Ultramaximizer
Plugin Alliance, any DAW
bx_digital V3, Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, SPL PQ or bx_digital, bx_XL V2, Black Box HG-2, bx_limiter True Peak
Studio One, Cubase and the rest
The same seven jobs with your stock plugins, or free picks that run anywhere: TDR Nova, TDR Kotelnikov, CHOW Tape Model, Free Clip 2, LoudMax, Youlean
MASTERING CHAIN BY GENRE
Same stages, different workloads. Integrated LUFS on the full track, from my genre table; R&B and acoustic come from the competitive targets in my LUFS guide.
EDM / house / techno
-8 to -6.5 LUFS house-8 to -7 LUFS techno-7.5 to -6 LUFS festival
Low-end control, saturation and a clipper before the limiter, all working
Build this chainEDM mastering guideHip-hop / trap
-9 to -7.5 LUFS
Low-end control, saturation and a clipper before the limiter, all working
Build this chainRock / indie
-11 to -9 LUFS
Light low-end control and saturation; the clipper is optional
Build this chainLo-fi / chill
-14 to -11 LUFS
Saturation at low drive; low-end control optional, no clipper
Build this chainAcoustic / singer-songwriter
-18 to -14 LUFS
Cleanup, glue, tone and a gentle limiter; the loudness stages stay optional
Build this chainCinematic / ambient
-14 to -11 LUFS
Cleanup, glue, tone and a gentle limiter; the loudness stages stay optional
Build this chainMASTERING CHAIN QUESTIONS, ANSWERED
What order should a mastering chain be in?
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Cleanup EQ, glue compression, tonal EQ, low-end (multiband) control, stereo width, saturation, an optional clipper, then the limiter, with a loudness meter after it. Clean first, glue second, shape third, control fourth, then density, then the ceiling. Each stage hands a better signal to the next: a compressor before the cleanup EQ reacts to rumble you were about to remove, and saturation after the limiter pushes into a ceiling that's already closed.
How loud should my master be?
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Loud enough for the genre, with true peak at or under -1.0 dBTP. Commercial releases land around -8 to -6.5 LUFS integrated for house, -9 to -7.5 for hip-hop and trap, -10 to -8 for pop, -11 to -9 for indie and rock, and -14 to -11 for ambient and downtempo. Spotify and YouTube normalize to about -14 LUFS and Apple Music to -16, so a louder master just gets turned down. Master to the genre, not to -14, and keep the limiter to 2 to 3 dB of work.
Do I need paid plugins to master a song?
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No. Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio and Pro Tools ship every stage a mastering chain needs, and free plugins like TDR Nova, TDR Kotelnikov, LoudMax and Youlean Loudness Meter fill the gaps in any DAW. A better limiter buys you about 1 to 2 dB of extra loudness before distortion or pumping shows up. The order and the settings decide the master, not the price of the plugins.
What's a good mastering chain for Ableton, FL Studio or Logic Pro?
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Ableton: EQ Eight, Glue Compressor, a second EQ Eight, Multiband Dynamics, Utility, Saturator, Limiter. FL Studio: Fruity Parametric EQ 2, Fruity Compressor, Fruity Soft Clipper, Maximus, Fruity Stereo Shaper, Fruity Limiter. Logic Pro: Channel EQ, Compressor in Vintage VCA mode, Vintage Tube EQ, Multipressor, Direction Mixer, Phat FX or Tape, and the Limiter with True Peak on. All stock. Pick your DAW in the builder for starting settings on each one.
Should I clip before the limiter?
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On loud genres, yes. A clipper shaving 1 to 2 dB off the sharpest peaks right before the limiter means each one works less, and the master keeps more punch. A clipper alone isn't true peak safe, so a true peak limiter always goes after it. On dynamic records like acoustic or ambient you rarely need one, and the builder marks it optional or leaves it out.
Is a mastering chain generator the same as AI mastering?
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No. AI mastering processes the file for you and makes the decisions. This builder gives you the chain: which plugin goes where and where to start each control, so you make the decisions with your ears. You still compare against a reference at matched loudness and check true peak and mono before you export.
Keep going
- → What a mastering chain is, and why the order matters
- → How to master a song, mix to final bounce
- → How loud should my master be? LUFS targets by genre
- → What LUFS means for streaming
- → The best limiter plugins, free, stock and paid
- → The best clipper plugins, plus settings by job
- → How to use reference tracks without fooling yourself
- → More free tools
Written by
CHARLIE CROWN
Founder of Born Creative Audio. Independent artist and engineer: 50M+ streams, 100% owned, never signed a record deal. Also founder of Born Creative Records. Work-for-hire remixes for Sony, Ultra, and Dim Mak. FabFilter featured artist; endorsed by iZotope, Sonarworks, and McDSP. Everything on this site comes from running a real independent music business, not theory.