Producing songs, whether it’s during recording, mixing or mastering, is all about balance.

Take EQ'ing for instance. It's about the balance between the lows, mids and highs.

You don’t want a boomy acoustic guitar sound. But you don’t want a shrill and trebly sound either.

You want some of the boom, and some of the shrill.

You want that balance between the frequencies that creates a realistic and pleasant-sounding instrument. That’s what you try to do when you’re moving the mic around before recording.

And it’s the same things you’re trying to do when you’re mixing any instrument.

But something happens when you start thinking of mastering. 

You get scared. 

Even though you’ve used EQ and compression and all the other plug-ins in every other aspect of the production process. 

There's a mental block because you're not as secure with your mastering decisions.

Mastering is subtle, which is what actually makes it harder to figure out.

Using EQ while mixing is easy. You're allowed to be more drastic. The balance comes from cutting out frequencies on one instrument to make room for another. There are bigger cuts, brooder boosts and narrower Q settings. That’s just how you approach EQ during mixing.

But if you do that during mastering, you might ruin your mix, ironically enough.

The way to look at EQ in mastering is that you balance the song by moving the frequencies around. It’s more about the balance of the frequency spectrum than for any single instrument. It’s about making the frequencies sit better, getting the low-end to sit right and adding sheen to the high-end.

All while making sure you keep the balance of the song.

It’s a different way of looking at EQ, but it’s nothing you can’t do yourself.

Of course, EQ'ing like a pro is just a part of mastering. The bigger picture includes:

• Knowing how to set your compressors and limiters
• Knowing when and how to use stereo wideners, M/S processing
• And even knowing when to use advanced techniques like de-essing to tame the high-end