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Make your skating musicsound great on the rink

You already cut your program. This free tool checks it against real rink PA systems: loud, often mono, and weak on deep bass. Then it masters the file so the important moments stay clear on the ice. Your file never leaves your device.

Your rink-ready file

Before

—/100

After

—/100

Loudness

Rinks are loud and noisy. If your track is quiet, the sound tech has to push the fader and quiet moments vanish. We normalize to a consistent, competition-loud level.

Peaks / clipping headroom

Cheap arena amps distort when the signal hits the ceiling. We keep true peaks safely below 0 dB so it stays clean even when played loud.

Mono compatibility

Many rink PAs are mono. If your cut has out-of-phase stereo, parts of it can cancel out and disappear. A low or negative number is a warning.

Sub-bass balance

Rink speakers can't reproduce deep bass. Too much low end just wastes loudness and sounds muddy. We filter out what the room can't play.

Dynamic range

A huge gap between quiet and loud sections gets lost in a big, echoey arena. Gentle compression keeps every section audible.

Distortion

Samples that already clip in your file will distort on any system. We flag them so you can catch a bad export.

Dead air

Long silence at the start or end is awkward when the tech presses play. We trim it to a tight, clean edit.

Advanced settings

Why great music sounds bad on the rink

A mix that's perfect in your headphones can fall apart over an arena PA. Rink sound systems are built for announcements, not music, and the room fights the track the whole way.

It's loud and noisy

Crowd noise, blades on ice, and a huge reverberant space mean anything quiet simply disappears. Your track has to be loud and consistent from the first beat.

It's often mono

Lots of rinks run a single mono feed or speakers so far apart that stereo tricks collapse. Out-of-phase stereo can cancel and leave a hollow, thin sound.

There's no real bass

Arena horn speakers roll off the low end. Deep bass you can feel at home just eats headroom and turns to mud, making everything else quieter.

How the tool works

1 · Drop your cut

Load the program music you've already edited. It's decoded and analyzed entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

2 · Read the scorecard

See exactly where your track will struggle on a rink: loudness, peaks, mono compatibility, bass and dead air, each explained in plain language.

3 · Master it

One click applies a rink-tuned chain: high-pass filtering, gentle compression, loudness normalization and a true-peak limiter.

4 · Download

Export a rink-ready WAV (lossless, best for competition) or an MP3. Bring it on a USB stick and it should translate more reliably on the rink system.

How to master music for an ice rink

Mastering skating music for a rink comes down to four things: make it loud and consistent, stop it from clipping, remove the bass the speakers can't play, and make sure it survives in mono. Start by normalizing loudness. Competition and show systems are usually tuned for speech, so music needs to sit at a loud, steady level, around -12 to -14 LUFS integrated. That lets the sound tech set one level instead of chasing quiet passages under crowd noise. Then apply a true-peak limiter with the ceiling at about -1 dB. Cheap arena amplifiers distort as soon as the signal reaches 0 dB, and that distortion is harsh at rink volume.

Cut the sub-bass the rink can't reproduce

Arena speakers are usually mid-focused horns with little or no subwoofer. Energy below roughly 45 to 60 Hz often does not come out as useful sound. It uses up headroom and muddies everything above it. A high-pass filter clears that out, which can make the track sound louder and cleaner because the level goes to frequencies the room can actually play.

Check mono compatibility before the competition

This is the mistake that ruins programs on competition day. Many rinks feed a single mono signal to the speakers. If your edit has wide stereo effects or out-of-phase content, summing to mono can cancel those parts out. A lead vocal or a whole section can drop in level or disappear. Always audition your cut in mono. If it falls apart, fold it to mono deliberately so what you hear at home is what plays on the ice. This tool measures phase correlation for you and can export a mono-safe file in one click.

Tighten the dynamics and trim the dead air

A big arena is reverberant and noisy, so a wide gap between your quietest and loudest sections gets lost. Gentle compression keeps every part of the program present without flattening the music. Finally, trim silence from the start and end so there is no awkward gap when the sound tech presses play. A tight edit feels professional and keeps the skater's timing predictable.

Frequently asked questions

Is this tool really free?

Yes. It runs entirely in your browser, so there's no cost to us to host the audio processing and no cost to you. No sign-up required.

Is my music uploaded anywhere?

No. Your file is decoded and processed on your own device using your browser's audio engine. It never touches a server, which also means it's fast and private.

What loudness should figure skating music be?

For a loud, noisy rink, aim for a consistent integrated loudness around -12 to -14 LUFS with a true peak no higher than -1 dB. The point is consistency: the sound tech should be able to set one level and forget it.

Should skating music be mono or stereo?

If you don't know the rink's system, mono is the safe choice, because many arena PAs are mono and stereo cuts can partially cancel. The tool checks your mono compatibility and can export a mono file if needed.

What file format should I bring to a competition?

A WAV file is the safest because it is lossless and accepted by most competition sound systems. Bring it on a labelled USB stick. This tool exports WAV by default, with an MP3 option if you specifically need a smaller file.

Can this cut or edit my music too?

This free tool masters a cut you've already made. If you'd like an editor to cut your program to the exact timing, transitions and rules for your discipline, Katja's team does that as a paid service.

Want the cut done for you?

Mastering helps a good cut translate on rink speakers. If you'd rather have a professional editor build the whole program, Katja's editors cut competition-ready music with the right timing, transitions, and ending for your routine.

See music cutting plans