Mastering

Mastering is the process of making a master copy of the finalized work to publish. It is the last process performed before publishing the work, occurring after mixing. This normally includes methods to increase SNR, fine-tune audio to avoid unwanted noises, maximize loudness, limit peaks that would clip, trim unnecessary silence from the beginning and end, etc. It may also include more powerful changes, such as removing, replacing, or swapping song sections and adding noise or sound effects. In the digital era, it may also include creating or editing the audio file's meta-data.