Think of a song that you think sounds great. Maybe you love it, maybe you hate it, doesn’t matter - just think of a song that sounds like a million bucks. Play it on your phone and have a listen.

Multiband dynamics processing can be a great “break glass in case of emergency” kind of tool when working on a master, especially when revisiting the mix simply isn’t an option. The key is that – *ahem* – responsible multiband compression use tends to be intentional and specific, rather than automatic or global.

60-odd years ago, if an artist released both mono and stereo versions of their music, the mono version was usually the definitive one. There’s a reason original mono vinyl copies of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band can sell for multiple times the price of their stereo counterparts - it’s the mix the band actually spent time on. See, back in the late ’60s, many listeners had not updated their home systems to stereo yet, and recording techniques were still very mono-oriented. Even on stereo releases, instruments like drums and piano were often still recorded to a single mono channel. Obviously, a lot has changed since then, but believe it or not, mono is still a thing.