Also called: Audio Mastering Specialist
Gives finished songs their final polish so they sound great on every speaker, from earbuds to clubs.
A mastering engineer listens to an album on extremely precise speakers, adjusts loudness, EQ, and spacing between songs, and prepares the files for streaming and vinyl.
Approximate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 2 years after high school. Years of audio experience; highly specialized ears.
Ways in: Self-taught, 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Audio Engineering, Music Technology.
Growing slowly. AI mastering services compete for low-budget work.
High risk for 10 years. AI mastering services now finish most indie tracks cheaply, so far fewer mastering jobs open; elite work remains.
Classes: Music, Physics (sound), Audio or music technology, Computer applications.
Official data: O*NET occupation 27-4014.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.