This is a blog written by a mastering engineer about mastering, but it is not a “how to master” blog.  There are other places on the internet for that. 

Mastering music has been my full time occupation for over 20 years, and during that time I’ve noticed some of the same ideas and conversations coming up repeatedly. At some point I decided to keep an informal journal of some of these ruminations, sometimes to clarify my thinking about them, and sometimes just because they wouldn’t go away until written down! 

Each entry is like a little note-to-self. Things to remember or build upon as the months and years have passed.  

And though I didn’t originally intend to make any of these notes public, I decided to share them here because I personally really like reading what other professionals have to say about their craft. So if you’re a mastering engineer or mixer, please write and publish your version of this blog - I would read that!

- J. LaPointe (August 2025)