Audio Mixing and Mastering Direction

Use this skill when audio must survive real playback: phone speakers, earbuds, laptops, TV soundbars, cinema-style trailers, podcasts, client review links, broadcast deliveries, and social feeds. Treat the mix as a production decision, not as a last-minute normalization step.

The job is to make the audience understand the foreground, feel the intended energy, avoid fatigue or distortion, and pass the declared delivery spec.

Start with the audio contract

Before touching levels, write a short audio contract for the project:

• Delivery context: social post, YouTube upload, podcast RSS, streaming ad, broadcast, OTT, internal review, theatrical-style trailer, music video, documentary, localization, accessibility version.
• Foreground hierarchy: dialogue/VO first, performance/music first, sound-design impact first, or a changing hierarchy by scene.
• Required deliverables: full mix, dialogue stem, music stem, effects stem, M&E, narration-only, clean captions, audio-described version, alternate language mix, stereo fold-down, 5.1/Atmos printmaster, client preview.
• Target spec: use the client/platform/broadcaster spec if supplied. If no spec is supplied, choose a conservative target and label it as a heuristic.
• Monitoring assumption: headphones-only, nearfield speakers, phone/laptop check, calibrated room, or unavailable.
• Source risk: AI voice artifacts, room noise, inconsistent clips, clipping, music licensing, generated SFX harshness, missing room tone, mono/stereo mismatch, translated VO timing, or stem bleed.

Do not master blindly to the loudest reference. Streaming and broadcast systems may normalize loudness, and over-limiting can reduce clarity while gaining little or nothing at playback.