A pop master lives or dies on the vocal. The low end has to land without taking up the room the voice needs. The loudness has to compete on a playlist without crushing the dynamics that make a chorus hit. The treble has to be clear on AirPods without getting harsh on a car system.

That's what I do. Pop mastering, $70 a track.

What pop mastering needs

Modern pop sits in a narrow window. The good news is that window is well-defined — you just have to stay inside it.

• Vocal presence in the 2–5 kHz range — without making consonants spit on phone speakers. Most pop mixes that arrive for mastering need a small bump here, not a big one.
• Controlled sub-bass — the kick and 808 need to translate from a laptop speaker to a club system. That usually means the sub gets trimmed and the upper bass gets pushed.
• Loudness floor around -9 to -10 LUFS integrated for mainstream pop on streaming, depending on the song. Spotify normalizes to -14 LUFS, so going louder doesn't make the song louder on Spotify — it just costs you dynamics. The goal is to land where the genre lives on streaming after normalization, not before.
• True-peak ceiling at -1.0 dBTP for streaming-codec safety. Apple's lossy AAC and Spotify's Ogg Vorbis both add intersample peaks above the digital ceiling on lossless playback. Staying under -1.0 dBTP keeps the master clean on every encoder. (Source: Apple Digital Masters specs, Spotify for Artists Loudness Normalization documentation.)
• Stereo width that holds up in mono — pop gets played on a lot of single-speaker systems (TikTok feeds, kitchen radios, car AM). A pop master that widens the stereo image at the cost of mono compatibility loses the chorus when it folds down.

If your mix already hits those marks, mastering gets out of the way. If it doesn't, that's what the work is.

What's included

Same as every Venia mastering booking — no upcharges for "the good stuff."

• Streaming master, WAV 24-bit 44.1 kHz (the format every distributor accepts)
• True-peak limited to -1.0 dBTP for codec safety
• LUFS-targeted for the genre + platform
• 3 revisions included on every order
• 24–48 hour turnaround on first delivery
• Questions answered before you book

If you need a Vinyl Master variant (different headroom + sub-bass mono fold), that's the $70 Vinyl Master variant. Most pop releases need the Streaming variant.

Pricing

$70 per track. Same price as every Venia mastering tier — pop, hip-hop, indie, electronic, country, R&B, folk. The price is the price. No genre tax, no hidden fees, no consultation calls before you can see a number.

If you've got an EP or album coming, ask about the EP/album bundle (EPBUNDLE — $10 off per track on orders of 4+ tracks). Sign up for Studio Notes at the bottom of this page for a 20% off welcome code on your first track.

How it works

1. Ask first if you want. Tell me about your record and what you're going for, and I'll answer any questions before you book. (Ask me a question →)
2. Book the track. Once you're ready, book at $70/track. Drop the full mix into the upload link in your confirmation email.
3. 24–48 hour turnaround. First delivery comes back as a streaming master WAV. If you need MP3 alongside, the WAV+MP3 variant is the same $70 base + a small upgrade.
4. 3 revisions included. Hear something you want different? Send notes. I'll revise.
5. Release-ready files. Final master plus the metadata your distributor needs. Done.

Pop mastering FAQ

How loud should my pop master be in 2026? Most modern pop sits between -9 and -10 LUFS integrated for the streaming master. Some genres of pop (ballad-leaning, vocal-forward) sit a touch quieter (-11 to -10). Hyper-pop and louder-leaning subgenres push closer to -8. The honest answer is: as loud as the song needs without sacrificing the dynamics that make the chorus matter. Spotify normalizes to -14, so going louder doesn't make you louder on Spotify — it just costs you headroom and translates worse to other systems.

Is pop mastering different from hip-hop mastering? Yes. Pop is built around the vocal, hip-hop is built around the low end (kick + 808). Both need loudness, but the way they get there differs. Pop mastering carves out vocal presence and controls sub-bass to make room for the voice. Hip-hop mastering usually pushes low-end weight and uses different limiting strategies to keep punch through the loudness ceiling. Same engineer, different decisions.

My pop mix has a really bright vocal. Will mastering fix that? Mastering can soften a bright vocal with broadband EQ + de-essing, but the right fix is usually upstream — adjust the vocal EQ in the mix. If you send the master back for revision, I'll flag whether the brightness is fixable at the master or wants a mix tweak. Either way, the free sample lets you hear the result before booking.

Do I need stem mastering for pop? Usually no — a well-balanced stereo mix masters fine. Stem mastering helps when the mix has competing elements (loud vocal + loud sub + busy mid-range all stacked) and you want more control over how each group gets shaped. If you're unsure, the free sample shows you what stereo mastering does for your track. If it's not enough, stem mastering is the next step.

Can you match my reference track? Yes — references inform every master I do. Send the reference along with the mix. Tonal balance, loudness, and dynamics from the reference shape the master without copying it (your song is your song). If you want a closer look at how your mix compares to a reference before booking, the free Reference Track Matcher tool runs that comparison in-browser.

Do you do pop mastering for vinyl? Yes. Vinyl needs different decisions — tighter sub, more conservative loudness, mono-summed low end below ~120 Hz — and the $70 Vinyl Master variant covers it. If you're cutting vinyl AND releasing on streaming, you want both variants (the same source mix gets two different masters).

Book your pop master

It's $70 a track, back in 24–48 hours with 3 revisions included.

Or if you have questions first: