IK Multimedia is making their mastering plugin from the T-RackS 5 series, Master Match, available for free until May 23. This powerful tool, usually priced at $99, is designed to be user-friendly, allowing you to create professionally mastered mixes in seconds, even if you’re not a professional.
As I often say, AI is becoming increasingly popular in the music production and engineering world. From smart AI plugins like iZotope Ozone to online mastering tools like LANDR, today, there are many plugins that allow users to click some buttons and have decent, sometimes even professional-sounding mixes. Master Match is a great example of that.
In my opinion, AI is still not providing 100% professional-sounding mixes, but it is getting closer to there. In any case, I think these are great tools for beginners to step into the music production and mastering world. Also, they come really handy when you don’t want to spend much time on a project and want a decent result in a short period of time.
So, starting with the Master Match it is a plugin that matches the EQ, dynamics, and loudness of your track to some reference tracks that you personally choose.
The plugin works in 3 steps: Learn References, Learn Source, and Match.
First, you choose your reference tracks, and you can choose up to three reference tracks for the plugin to analyze and match your track to. You let the plugin listen and analyze the tracks as long as you want. Also, what I like is that you can choose the part of the reference tracks that you want the plugin to analyze. Here, I have a little tip for you: just let the plugin listen to the tracks as long as you can for it to really grasp the goal EQ, dynamics, and loudness.
The next step is the Learn Source. Here, you upload your track to the plugin and let it analyze it. Again, you can choose the parts you want to show to the plugin, but at least let it listen to the track for 20-30 seconds to understand its nuances.
The last step is the Match. Here, you are ready to match your track’s mastering signature to the reference tracks. The most important part of the user interface is the EQ graph of your track and the reference tracks. The orange graph belongs to the reference ones, and the gray one is your track, so you can see the difference between the two. When the matching process is over, you will see just one orange graph, which is the decision made by the plugin to make your track sound like the reference ones.
On the left corner, you also have two sliders to decide the matching percentage. The Spectral Matching and Level Matching sliders let you decide the level of processing. The Spectral matching is for dynamics, and the Level Matching is for loudness.
When I tested the plugin, I was pretty satisfied with the results. It does a great job mastering your track, which means it sounds pretty close to your references. As I said before, it may not be for professional mastering engineers, but I think it is a great way for beginners to create pretty good mastered tracks.
I recommend using the Spectral Matching in high levels but experimenting with the Level Matching slider as sometimes the loudness level gets too high, and it may provide a distorted sound.
The installation process is a bit of a hassle. First, you go to the Audio Plugin Deals website and create an account to get the license for the freebie. Then, you download and install the IK Authorization app, to which you will enter the serial to get the plugin. But, for that, you have to have an IK account, which you can create by following the steps in the app. When you finish all those, now you can download the IK Product Manager to register another serial that should arrive in your e-mail. After the registration, you can go ahead and download the T-Rack 5 CS to use the Master Match in your DAW.
For a freebie, I believe this is a great plugin to have in your arsenal. You can save almost $100 bucks if you act fast and download it until May 23.
Check out the Master Match manual here
Berk is a multi-instrumentalist musician from Istanbul, Turkey. He has been playing guitar, handpan, and percussion for over ten years, developing a sound that blends melodic sensitivity with rhythmic depth.
He began his musical journey as a teenager, learning guitar and performing in several bands. In 2016, he discovered the handpan, an instrument that immediately resonated with him on a deeper level and gradually became central to his artistic identity.
Since then, he has performed in streets, festivals, bars, and concert venues across different countries, connecting with diverse audiences through both intimate and large-scale performances.
Alongside his live work, Berk is deeply involved in studio production. He works from his home studio, where he composes, records, and produces his own music. His studio serves as a creative space for layering handpan, guitar, and percussion with modern production techniques, allowing him to shape fully realized, atmospheric compositions from start to finish.
His music explores a wide range of genres and textures, combining organic acoustic instruments with detailed studio production to create immersive and expressive soundscapes.