I've had so many people asking me what I thought of the new LANDR automated online mastering service, that I decided I just had to check it out !

LANDR offers "Professional Audio Mastering", saying you can "Sound like a pro. Instant results at a fraction of the cost of studio mastering."

But is it any good ?

The system uses "artificial intelligence", according to the About page:

MixGenius incubated and refined algorithms developed over eight years of university research, testing and tweaking based on feedback from trained audio experts. Our team is composed of music industry veterans - award winning mixing engineers, top-level DSP programmers, musicians, producers and label owners - who know exactly what the mastering process needs to deliver.

All of which sounds impressive - but the bottom line is that they're saying they can replace a bespoke, skilled process, undertaken by an experienced, empathetic engineer, with a drag-and-drop robotic algorithm.

Bold claims ! They also mention their "resident astrophysicist" several times, in reply to which I have to reply:

Mastering isn't rocket science atrosphysics

But how does it sound ?

In this video I compare a song I mastered myself with the results LANDR gives, including testing their different "intensity" settings (that's "loudness", to the rest of us).

I found the results surprising, interesting, impressive, disappointing and down-right worrying !

Take a listen to hear the comparison yourself, and make your own mind up whether LANDR is worth trying.

And please tell me what you think in the comments !


Featured song: "Choices" by Project DIVIDE