Fretnook / Free tools / Mixing & Mastering
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Free online mixing & mastering

Shape every track with EQ, compression, gate and effects, place it in the stereo field, bus tracks into groups, then finish the whole mix with loudness metering, a limiter and a one-click export to WAV, stems or a small compact file.

Free with a quick email sign-up. Processing happens in your browser; your audio stays on your device.
Quick start

Mix a song in four steps

  1. Get your tracks in

    Record or import tracks in the recorder. Level, mute and solo live there; everything else is in the Mixer, one column per control and one row per track.

  2. Shape each track

    Use the three-band EQ, pan, compressor, gate, distortion and chorus. Add reverb and delay sends, and use the parametric EQ for finer work.

  3. Balance and finish the mix

    Group tracks onto buses A, B and C, set the master compressor and brickwall limiter, then check loudness in Post-Production.

  4. Export

    Press EXPORT WAV for the finished mix, EXPORT STEMS for one file per track, or EXPORT COMPACT for a small file to text or upload.

What you get

A whole mixing desk in a tab

3-band and 5-band parametric EQ

Low, Mid and High at plus or minus 15 dB on every track, plus a five-band parametric EQ with a live frequency-response curve.

Dynamics per track

Compressor and noise gate from 0 to 100%. Sidechain a track off another, such as bass off kick, for the classic pumping effect.

Effects

Reverb and delay sends, distortion, chorus, whole-track pitch transpose of plus or minus 12 semitones, De-ess and Pitch Correct.

Amp voicings

Tone presets for Tele Clean, Tele Twang, Tweed Crunch, Modern Bright, 12-String, Bass Round, Bass Punch, Acoustic Bright and Acoustic Warm.

Groups and master bus

Three shared buses with their own level, mute and solo, feeding a master compressor and brickwall limiter with peak and clip indicators.

Reverb types and real impulse responses

Room, Plate and Hall are synthesized. Import IR loads a real recorded room, plate or spring for genuine convolution reverb.

Loudness metering

Integrated and Momentary LUFS with export targets of Peak Only, Streaming -14 LUFS or CD-Loud -9 LUFS.

Finishing tools

Spectrum view, tape-style saturation, stereo width, mains hum filter at 50 or 60 Hz, hiss reduction, and an A/B bypass to compare against the untouched mix.

Getting a balanced mix

Start with levels and pan before touching any effects; most mixes are made or broken there. Then cut mud with the Low or Mid EQ on crowded tracks, add compression to even out dynamics, and use a small amount of reverb to place instruments in the same room.

Any control at 0, centre or Off is a true bypass, so a track with everything at default sounds exactly like the raw recording. That makes it safe to experiment: you can always return to the original by setting a control back to its default.

Loudness and export targets

The Post-Production tab shows Integrated and Momentary LUFS so you can see roughly how loud your mix will be on streaming or broadcast systems. It is a practical estimate rather than a certified broadcast meter, but it is accurate enough to get an export in the right range.

The Export Target menu tells EXPORT WAV to solve for a gain that hits that loudness, but it never pushes past the mixer's peak ceiling, so a mix that is already loud and limited may simply not reach a quieter target. EXPORT WAV is automatically normalized and limited toward -1 dB peak so it is ready to share.

Three ways to export

EXPORT WAV bounces the whole mix through the entire chain, including Post-Production. EXPORT STEMS renders each track separately and zips them, useful for finishing in another program. EXPORT COMPACT hands the same mastered mix to your browser's own audio encoder, producing AAC in an .m4a file on Safari and Opus in a .webm file elsewhere. It is labelled honestly rather than called an MP3, since browsers do not include an MP3 encoder; run the WAV through any converter if you need a literal .mp3. Downloads work when Fretnook is open directly in your browser or installed as an app.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Is the mixer free?
Yes. It is part of the DAW, which unlocks with a free email sign-up. There is no payment.
Can I master a track I did not record in Fretnook?
Yes. Use Import Audio in the recorder to drop it onto a track, then use the master bus and Post-Production tools and export.
Are the LUFS numbers exact?
They are an estimate based on a simplified K-weighting filter and gate. They are accurate enough to be in the right ballpark, but not a certified broadcast meter.
What is the difference between WAV, stems and compact export?
WAV is the full mix at full quality. Stems is one file per track in a zip. Compact is a much smaller AAC or Opus file for sharing.
Does everything at zero really sound untouched?
Yes. Controls at 0, centre or Off are exact bypasses, so an untouched track sounds like the original recording.
More free tools

Keep going in the same rack

Mix it, master it, export it.

Fretnook is free and runs in your browser. Your microphone audio and recordings stay on your device.

● Open the mixer