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Why we master every release twice

A club rig and a pair of earbuds want different things. Here's how our two-pass mastering chain serves both without compromising either.

Robert Brown

Founder, Root Wave International

7 min read

A sub-heavy system in a dance and a pair of $30 earbuds on a bus are, acoustically, almost different instruments. Master for one and the other suffers — push too hard for club loudness and headphones get fatiguing; master gently for headphones and a club system swallows the low end whole.

Two passes, two targets

Every Root Wave release gets mastered twice from the same mix: one pass checked on a club rig with the bass management a real system has, and one pass built for headphones and home speakers where the low end needs to translate without a subwoofer doing the work for it.

You get the version built for how you're actually going to listen — the download simply includes both, tagged so your player picks up the right one without you thinking about it.

“We're not chasing loud. We're chasing correct, twice.”
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WRITTEN BY

Robert Brown

Founder, Root Wave International

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