Several years ago The Pro Tools Expert Team spoke about producing a mastering shootout between a Mastering Engineer and an online A.I. mastering website. At the time there was a lot of discussion about the effectiveness of A.I. online mastering services and we were keen to test it. Recently, LANDR released a major update of their mastering algorithm called Lydian that they claim to be very intelligent. Let's find if those claims stand up in our mastering shootout between two audio professionals and LANDR, the A.I. online mastering service.

Three examples have been produced and are available to you as a blind listening test. The examples were produced by the following:

• A highly experienced and professional Mastering Engineer

• A professional Music Mixer with good mastering skills in a studio with poor acoustics

• LANDR the online automatic A.I. mastering service

The Mastering Shootout Brief

We decided to master three different styles of music. In the interest of fairness, all the songs had to be unknown to both audio professionals. 24 Bit 44.1 kHz WAV files were delivered to each of the mastering services. Both professionals were allowed to use whatever studio outboard gear and software available to them. The brief was simple - Master the songs for iTunes.

Each outlet mastered each song in full, however, for this shootout, we have provided only short snippets of each result to help you decide on your favourite master. Mastering is all about taste, vote for the masters you like the most. The A, B & C examples for each test have been randomly ordered.

We have provided the audio examples below in our embedded audio player, however, these files are also available as 16 Bit 44.1kHz Waves that you can download and critique for yourself in your own DAW.

Download mastering shootout audio examples.

Unmastered Mix - Test 1

Mastering Results - Test 1

Listen to the three mastered results and vote for the master you like the most. 

Unmastered Mix - Test 2

Mastering Results - Test 2

Listen to the three mastered results and vote for the master you like the most. 

Unmastered Mix - Test 3

Mastering Results - Test 3

Listen to the three mastered results and vote for the master you like the most. 

The Results

Want to know the outcome from these polls? We have now published a special results article. Perhaps have a go here and then see how your thoughts compare with the results.