Waves Online Mastering – Getting Started

Apr 02, 2025

Introduction

Waves Online Mastering is an AI powered service that provides a quick and effortless way to professionally master your track. Follow this guide to find out how to use Waves Online Mastering:

To achieve expert level results, we trained Waves Online Mastering’s AI on a vast number of examples of industry-grade masters, and with intuitive controls, Waves Online Mastering’s neural network transforms your mixes into radio-ready tracks.

You can listen to a 30 second sample of the mastered track for free. Waves Online Mastering credits are used to create a full-length master. For pricing, visit this page.

Preparing your mix for Waves Online Mastering

For best results:

  • Aim your mix levels to peak between -2dBFS and -4dBFS (and RMS around -15dBFS) – Leave some dynamic headroom.
  • Make sure none of your mix channels (and the master buss) are peaking over 0 dBFS (clipping).
  • Do not extensively use limiting or compression on your master buss to increase loudness.
  • Do not apply dithering to your track.
  • When exporting your track, output the file with the maximum quality matching your project settings.

Supported file formats:

  • WAV
  • AIF
  • AIFF
  • MP3

Supported File Size, Length and Channel Count:

  • Duration: From 5 seconds to 12 minutes
  • Size: From 400 KB up to 554 MB
  • Channel count: Stereo only

Supported Sample-Rates:

  • 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96 kHz - 16 / 24 / 32 bit.

How to Master your track:

  1. Go to Waves Online Mastering
  2. If you already have a Waves account, sign in. If you do not have a Waves account yet, sign up here.
    You can also try the service as a guest, without signing in to an account.
  3. To start the mastering process, press the + icon on the top-left section. In the window that opens, navigate to, and select one or more files that you want to master. You can also simply drag and drop your audio files into the upload box.
  4. Press the ‘Go Master’ button. This will start the upload process.
  5. When the upload process is finished, press the ‘Preview Master’ button to proceed to the master ‘Library’ page.
  6. On the left panel, you can adjust the mastering settings and preview your mastered track. Press the ‘play’ icon to preview 30 seconds of the selected track.
  7. You can switch between the processed audio and the original audio to quickly evaluate the master. Enable the ‘Volume Match’ setting to adjust the mastered preview to match the volume of the original file. This makes it easier to focus on the tonal differences without the effects of the increased volume added during the mastering process.
  8. In the ‘Master Settings’ section, you can choose from one of three styles for your master: Precise, Organic or Elevated.
  9. You can choose to add tonal qualities to your master: Depth adds low-end energy to your track, Presence adds mid and upper-mid energy for a clear and powerful mix. You can also add both.
  10. If you are trying to achieve a certain style of master, you can press the ‘Add Reference’ button and upload a reference track. Waves Online Mastering’s AI will listen to your reference and try to master your track accordingly.
  11. When you are happy with the previewed results, press the ‘Create Master’ button to finalize the master and process the whole track. At this point, a credit will be deducted from your balance. You will have to press ‘confirm’ to use the credit and begin audio processing.
  12. Once the credit is received, Waves Online Mastering’s AI will process the whole track. You can check the progress in the middle panel.
  13. When the master is ready, you can listen to it in your browser, or download it by pressing the download button. Choose your download file type, bit depth and sample rate, then press ‘Download.’
  14. To generate an additional master with different qualities, you can select different settings on the left panel, preview it, and once you are happy with the results press ‘Create Master.’ (Once you confirm master creation, a credit will be deducted from your balance).

Need any assistance? Contact Technical Support.