What Is Mastering?

One of the most commonly asked questions in the music industry is "what is mastering?" What is mastering? In one sentence, mastering is the final step in the song making process that is "supposed to" bring your song up to its highest quality level possible. I say "supposed to" because the finished product of each mastering engineer is going to be different. Some are more talented than others and spend more time on (actually care about) your project, which will yield much better results. I say highest quality level "possible" because if you upload a song that is distorted and poorly mixed, the finished product after mastering will sound "better," but it cannot sound "great."