1. Import the highest-quality source

Start from the best export your AI music platform provides, ideally a lossless file when available. Keep an untouched copy of the source before processing. This workflow works whether your original track came from Suno, ElevenLabs Music, Musicfy or another generator.

2. Listen before processing

Play the song from beginning to end at a sensible volume. Write down actual problems: too bright, muddy, inconsistent, overly dynamic, clipped, weak low end, harsh vocal, or simply quieter than your reference. If you cannot name the problem, do not add an effect yet.

3. Use EQ only for tonal correction

For Audacity 4's graph-based EQ, select the audio and open Effect → EQ and filters → Filter Curve EQ. Click the curve to add control points, drag points to shape the response, and remove points you do not need. Make small moves and compare frequently. A mastering EQ move should usually feel like refinement, not a rescue operation. If you need extreme EQ, the mix or source probably needs work first.

For the transferable diagnosis behind any EQ move, use the EQ & Frequency Shaping guide.

4. Compress only if the dynamics need control

Audacity 4's destructive Compressor path is Effect → Volume and compression → Compressor. Its current controls include Threshold, Ratio, Knee width, Make-up gain, Attack, Release and Lookahead. Do not treat the factory defaults as a mastering preset.

If you want to audition compression nondestructively, open the track's Effects panel—or press E—then choose Add effect → Compressor. You can adjust it during playback, bypass it, reorder it in the stack and use the realtime input/output/compression meters. Realtime effects are rendered into the export; there is no separate “apply before export” step.

Use compression when the track has clear dynamic inconsistency or needs modest glue. If it is working constantly or the track loses punch, back off. For the deeper decision system, use Dynamics & Compression for AI Music.

5. Use a limiter as a final safety stage

For destructive limiting on selected audio, use Effect → Volume and compression → Limiter. Audacity 4's current Limiter exposes Threshold, Output, Knee width, Lookahead and Release. Its default Output is -1 dB, which deliberately leaves headroom rather than pushing the file to 0 dB.

For a finished stereo master, the cleaner nondestructive Audacity 4 workflow is often to add Limiter to the Master effects section near the bottom of the effects panel so every track is processed together. Keep it late in the chain. The realtime Limiter can be adjusted during playback and its meters let you watch input, output and gain reduction.

The goal is not to flatten every transient; it is to control peaks without making the track smaller, distorted or fatiguing.

6. Check loudness intentionally

Audacity 4 includes both Normalize and Loudness Normalization. Normalize changes peak level; Loudness Normalization works from perceived loudness measured in LUFS. Do not confuse the two. Use loudness normalization when you are intentionally targeting perceived loudness, not merely trying to make the waveform look bigger.

7. Compare against a reference

Level-match your reference as closely as practical before deciding your master is better. Louder nearly always feels more impressive in a quick comparison. Compare bass weight, vocal presence, high-frequency harshness, punch, width and emotional impact—not just volume.

8. Test translation

Listen on headphones, speakers, a phone and another everyday playback system if possible. The master should survive all of them. If one system reveals a serious problem, return to the smallest stage that can actually fix it.

9. Save the project, then export the release file

Audacity 4 uses the new .aup4 project format. If you open an older .aup3 project, Audacity 4 converts it to .aup4 while leaving the original .aup3 untouched; the converted project cannot be saved back to .aup3. Keep the editable project separate from the final audio export, and use a lossless master for archiving/distribution when your distributor accepts it.