We recently ran a Mastering Shootout between LANDR, a Professional Mastering Engineer and a Professional Music Mixer. This shootout featured three songs mastered by each mastering outlet. We asked the Pro Tools Expert Community to blind listen to each test and vote for the masters they liked the most. Each test received an average of 700 votes.
The results are in:
Test 1
- Example A: Professional Mastering Engineer
- Example B: Professional Music Mixer
- Example C: LANDR
Test 2
- Example A: LANDR
- Example B: Professional Music Mixer
- Example C: Professional Mastering Engineer
Test 3
- Example A: Professional Music Mixer
- Example B: LANDR
- Example C: Professional Mastering Engineer
Combined Mastering Shootout Results
Combined Results
- Professional Mastering Engineer: 35.53%
- Music Mixer: 33.20%
- LANDR: 31.27%
Listen To The Blind Listening Tests
Visit the original article to listen to the tests again - Mastering Shootout Between A Mixer, A Mastering Engineer & A.I. LANDR Mastering
Download the WAV files.
In The Interest Of Fairness
The Pro Tools Expert Team were keen to find out the results from this shootout. In the interests of fairness, we made sure that both the audio professionals were given songs to master that neither of them had heard prior to mastering. We also made sure that both the audio professionals would not cheat and use LANDR to compare. Our goal was to produce a real-world shootout. Once both the audio professionals delivered their masters we then used LANDR to compile the blind shootout tests.
Who Were The Audio Professionals?
It was a challenge finding a Mastering Engineer who would be comfortable putting their reputation against such a test like this one, luckily, we did find one who happened to be a Pro Tools Expert Community Member, unsurprisingly, they have requested to stay anonymous.
Who is the Music Mixer? Some say he's a Kurt Cobain look-alike on a good day, others say he's a Plug-in Junkie... all we know is that he's called Dan Cooper.
What Do The Results Of This Mastering Shootout Tell Us?
It's difficult to say exactly what these results tell us but one thing is for sure, the order of the results are in the correct order - Real audio professional people then A.I. There is certainly no denying though that the results are very close. All we can say for sure is that it seems as though the LANDR technology has developed to be "as good as" what a Mastering Engineer can produce. How do you interpret these results?
Discuss...