Nugen Audio are announcing their new MasterCheck Pro plugin which follows on from their very successful MasterCheck plugin. MasterCheck Pro does everything MasterCheck does and also enables you to to hear how your tracks will be affected by loudness matching algorithms and to be able to audition in real-time the different codecs and bandwidth settings that are used in music streaming services like Spotify, YouTube, and Digital Radio.

Who Is MasterCheck Pro For?

MasterCheck Pro from Nugen Audio is ideal for both mix and mastering engineers, and is designed to enable you to audition different codecs in real time to help avoid codec distortion or over-compression. Instead you can end up with masters that are perfectly tuned for each digital music streaming service. Jon Schorah, founder and creative director, Nugen Audio explains....

Consumer demand has never been higher for music on streaming apps, download stores, websites, and podcasts. All of these services use data compression and/or loudness matching, which can affect mixes in various unforeseen ways. With MasterCheck Pro, producers can take back control of the listening experience and mix to the streaming services’ criteria. They can identify problems ahead of time and optimise their mixes, resulting in music that reaches the listener sounding exactly as originally intended.

What Can MasterCheck Pro Help With?

With MasterCheck Pro, the real-time codec auditioning will help you to understand how your mixes will respond to different codecs and bandwidths by giving you the ability to preview the mix through different encoders and quality settings. In addition MasterCheck Pro has industry-standard meters, which show both loudness and peak-to-loudness ratio. You will be able to hear in real-time how your mixes will sound when played on the chosen platform. You will also be able to A/B the master FX chain with other reference tracks or with the uncompressed mix.

In addition, MasterCheck Pro’s loudness auditioning can reveal any level changes that may be applied by the streaming service. MasterCheck Pro’s true-peak metering ensures the mix is within the delivery spec and guarantees the music won’t be clipped by the lossy codec encoders downstream.

Nugen Audio MasterCheck Pro Feature Summary

• Master for Spotify, Apple Music and many other platforms
• Perfectly balance Loudness & Dynamic Range
• Audition encoded audio streams in real time
• Compare and Match reference mixes
• A/B your master FX chain with your uncompressed mix.
• Ensure clip-free encoding with true peak metering
• Service Presets included for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Pandora, BBC iPlayer, Tidal, International TV, AES, DAB+ Radio and more.
• Supports AAX, RTAS, VST, AU, in both 64 and 32-bit formats as appropriate for both Windows and Mac OSX operating systems. 

Instant Playback Reality Check

Online music services and stores, encode your music in various formats and bit-rates. Encoding “hot” mixes can introduce unwanted distortion with true-peak overs that will clip on playback, especially when played through lossy codecs used by these streaming services. MasterCheck Pro can detect these problems as well as reveal frequency masking or other artifacts from using lossy codecs. You can then make changes whilst auditioning in real-time so you can make sure your masters are the best possible, ready to be delivered using any music streaming or delivery service.

With regard to loudness and codecs, most playout services have a ‘letter box’ through which they deliver audio. If the music doesn’t meet those criteria it will be forced to fit. A heavily compressed master might win the loudness war on CD, but when played over a music streaming service is most likely to be simply turned down by the music streaming service or player used by the consumer, because they use loudness normalisation. When these 'loud' tracks are turned down they leave valuable headroom which you could have used for transient detail and punch and a mix with more 'life'. 

Introductory Offer

For a limited period MasterCheck Pro will be available for $149, with the normal price set at $199.

Upgrade From MasterCheck

Existing owners of MasterCheck can upgrade to MasterCheck Pro - either from the Nugen Audio webshop, your own My Account page on the Nugen Audio website, or via Nugen Audio dealers.   Until Jan 31st, 2017 the upgrade will cost $49 / £31 / €38.