Mastering Chain Order
Each stage earns its place by what it needs to see, not by habit or by the order in a preset.
Related
Limiting before EQ asks the limiter to decide the tone of a mix that is not fixed yet. Chain order follows dependencies, not habit.
Order follows dependency
Corrective work goes first because it has to see the original problem. Tone shaping sits before or after dynamics depending on which spectrum you want the compressor to react to. Saturation is level-sensitive, so it belongs before the limiter, where it cannot shave an already flattened peak. Dither appears only when bit depth drops, fixed at the end.
A chain worth reusing
| Step | Stage | Purpose | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corrective EQ | Remove rumble, tame resonances | Low end tighter or thinner |
| 2 | Bus compression | Unify the movement | Attack still present |
| 3 | Tonal EQ | Gentle wide shelves | Mids not hollowed |
| 4 | Saturation | Round peaks, add density | Highs not gritty |
| 5 | Limiter | Hold the ceiling | Release not pumping |
| 6 | Dither | Reduce bit depth | Only at 16 bit |
When the order changes
Linear-phase EQ adds latency, and ahead of a limiter it can mislead lookahead, so it may move to the front. Multiband compression used only for the low end reads more clearly before wideband compression. When a clipper replaces the limiter, set its ceiling lower, since nothing downstream can push again. Align the delay between parallel and main paths, or the low end cancels first.
What the ear should catch
Change one stage at a time and compare at matched loudness. Listen to the kick attack, the sustain of the bass, vocal sibilance, and whether the quietest passage still exists. After 1–3 dB of limiting, check whether the release pumps with the kick, then listen for a sandy edge on the highs.
What order cannot fix
Frequency clashes in the mix do not vanish because the chain is in the right order. Once compression is excessive, moving the limiter later only makes the pumping clearer. Dither followed by another stage loses its noise shaping. With two limiters in series, the second usually just cleans up the release of the first.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Along the same line
Sources
- Bob Katz, Mastering Audio.
- iZotope, Ozone 11 documentation, signal chain and module order.
- ITU-R BS.1770-4, Algorithms to Measure Audio Programme Loudness and True-peak Level.