1. Calibrate your monitoring speakers :

How to adjust the volume of your monitoring speakers :

• Start by lowering the volumes of your devices to zero (amplified speakers, amp, preamp,…)
• Then connect your Mac® to your listening system
• Launch the iTunes® application or another music player
  We gonna calibrate the speakers by listening to a piece of music or a reference audio sound…
• Set the volume of the player to maximum (⚠️ not the devices only the software audio player)
• Select an already mastered commercial title that could match the style of your project
• Start playing the commercial title, and now gradually increase the general volume of yours devices (general volume of the Mac® and volume of your speakers or amp and preamp) until you get a sound that suits you.
• Your speakers are now set for listening to your reference sound and calibrated for your environment.
• Do not touch the settings of your listening devices again during mastering. Keep your player open, you could at any time start listening to your reference sound and compare with your sound being mastered…

2. Proceed to the Audio Mastering :

Do your Mastering with Mastering Tool !

• Launch the App “Mastering Tool”
• Create a new master (⌘N)
• The App will ask you to link your original audio file
• Choose your original sound
• The app. will load it and caculate the waveform image from your original file
• Start playing
• To increase or decrease the level of your sound: turn first the “Infinite Wheel” downwards or upwards to get closer to your maximum level (eg 0 dBFS, -10 dBFS, …) indicated on the right peak meter (keep listening a sound that suits you)
• You can adjust / rectify the frequencies thanks to the “Beast Equalizer”, in most cases you will have to lower certain frequencies which have taken over following the increase in gain.
• If you want to focus on a certain part of the sound : click on the “Play In selection” button then click and drag inside the waveform image to select a segment of your sound
• The “Master Limiter” is here to make sure that the level does not exceed your maximum level (eg. 0 dBFS, -10 dBFS, …) In most of cases the pre-gain, attack and decay default values should suit but can be refine if you want to push the limit 😉
• Render the Master to preview the waveform

3. Save your project :

There is 2 ways to save your settings :

• (⇧⌘S) .mtool “Save Project As…”
• (⇧⌘P) .mtpck “Save Packed Project As…”

4. Export your Master sound file :

When you are satisfied with your Master, export your sound : Go to the “Audio Export” menu and select your desire format :

• .m4a AAC MPEG 4 (64 kBps, 96 kBps, 128 kBps, 192 kBps, 256 kBps, 320 kBps / 44.1 kHz & 48 kHz)
  The 320 kBps bitrate AAC Advanced Audio Codec MPEG-4 is not supported for mono files
• .m4a ALAC (from 16bit, 20bit, 24bit, 32bit source data / 22.05 kHz, 32.0 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 192 kHz)
• .m4a FLAC (from 16bit, 20bit, 24bit source data / 22.05 kHz, 32.0 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 192 kHz)
• .caf ALAC (from 16bit, 20bit, 24bit, 32bit source data / 22.05 kHz, 32.0 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 192 kHz)
• .flac FLAC (from 16bit, 20bit, 24bit source data / 22.05 kHz, 32.0 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 192 kHz)
• .aiff PCM (8bit, 16bit, 24bit, 32bit(int) / 22.05 kHz, 32.0 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 192 kHz…)
• .wav PCM (8bit, 16bit, 24bit, 32bit(float) / 22.05 kHz, 32.0 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 192 kHz,…)