How to Master a Song in FL Studio (Chain, Fruity Limiter, Export)

To master a song in FL Studio, build a simple chain on the master mixer track: corrective EQ first, then gentle bus compression, then Fruity Limiter set to a -1 dBTP ceiling, while metering toward around -14 LUFS integrated for streaming. Export the result as a 24-bit WAV at your project sample rate. The tools that ship with FL Studio are enough to get a clean, competitive master if you use them in the right order and stop chasing loudness for its own sake.

Start with a properly prepped mix

Mastering does not fix a broken mix. Before you touch the master track, make sure your mix peaks are sitting around -6 to -3 dB on the master mixer channel, with nothing clipping. If your mix already slams the ceiling, pull the master fader or your individual channels down until you have real headroom. You cannot add polish to a mix that has no room to breathe. If you need the full pre-master checklist, read gain staging and headroom.

Also make sure any limiter you used while mixing is bypassed. You are about to build a fresh mastering chain, and you do not want two limiters fighting each other.

Build the mastering chain on the master track

In the FL Studio mixer, select the Master channel on the far left. Every plugin you add here processes the whole song. Load them top to bottom in this order, because each stage feeds the next.

• Fruity Parametric EQ 2 (corrective): the first slot. Make small, surgical cuts - roll off sub-rumble below about 30 Hz with a high-pass, tame any harsh resonance you hear, and only then make gentle broad boosts for tone. Keep moves under a few dB; mastering EQ is subtle.
• Fruity Compressor or Maximus (glue): a light bus compressor with a slow attack, medium release and a low ratio like 2:1, catching just 1 to 2 dB of gain reduction on the loudest sections. This is glue, not loudness. If it is pumping, back it off.
• Tone or stereo (optional): if the track needs air or width, a gentle high-shelf or a careful stereo widener goes here, before the limiter. Never widen so far that the mix loses mono compatibility.
• Fruity Limiter (final): the last plugin in the chain. This sets your ceiling and your final loudness.

The order matters. EQ and compression shape the sound, and the limiter is the finishing stage that catches peaks and brings up level. Put the limiter first and everything after it undoes its work. For the reasoning behind this sequence, read mastering chain plugin order.

Set up Fruity Limiter correctly

Fruity Limiter is FL Studio's built-in brickwall limiter, and it is genuinely capable for mastering. Switch it into LIMIT mode using the tab at the top so it acts as a peak limiter rather than a compressor.

• Ceiling: set the output ceiling to -1.0 dB. That headroom protects against inter-sample peaks and lossy-encoding distortion when platforms transcode your file. Read true peak explained for why the sample meter under-reads.
• Gain: raise the input gain slowly to push the mix into the limiter. Watch how much gain reduction you are creating. A few dB is musical; 8 or 10 dB of constant limiting will flatten your transients and suck the life out of the track.
• Release: a medium release, or the auto-release, works for most material. Too fast can distort the low end; too slow can pump.
• Sustain and knee: leave these near default unless you know the sound you are chasing.

The mistake to avoid is treating the limiter as a loudness cannon. If you are cranking the input gain to hit a number and the track sounds crushed, you have gone too far. Streaming turns loud masters down anyway, so there is no prize for the highest input gain. For the full picture, read what a limiter does.

Meter your loudness

FL Studio does not ship an obvious integrated LUFS meter, so add a metering plugin like Wave Candy in its meter mode, or a free LUFS meter on the master, to see your loudness. Meter the entire song, not just the drop - integrated LUFS is an average across the whole track. Aim for around -14 LUFS integrated for Spotify, YouTube and most streaming, or closer to -16 LUFS for Apple Music. Do not loop the loudest section and chase a number there, or your real average will read far quieter than you think.

Export a clean WAV

When the master sounds finished, export it. Go to File, Export, WAV file and use these settings.

• Depth: 24-bit for the master file you keep and upload. Only render 16-bit with dither if a delivery spec specifically requires it.
• Sample rate: match your project - 44.1 kHz for streaming, or your native rate.
• Resampling: set interpolation to a high-quality setting for the final render.
• Tail: enable "leave remainder" so reverb and delay tails are not cut off.

Listen back to the exported file on more than one system before you call it done. If mastering in FL Studio feels like guesswork, or you just want a fast second opinion, you can upload the same clean mix to Sauce Mastering and compare. For the numbers behind every stage, browse the full mastering guides.