Phantom Overview -- AI Audio Analysis for Mixing and Mastering

What is Phantom?

Phantom is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives AI coding assistants professional audio analysis tools. It runs locally on your machine and connects to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible assistant.

When connected, your AI assistant gains access to 19 audio analysis tools: spectral analysis, loudness measurement, dynamics profiling, stereo imaging, phase coherence, problem detection, stem separation, reference comparison, and corrective processing.

Phantom has been approved for the Anthropic Plugin Marketplace.

What does it actually do?

You talk to your AI assistant about audio. It calls Phantom’s tools to measure your files and returns results with interpretation.

You ask Claude:

Analyze the frequency balance of my vocal track at vocals.wav

Phantom returns:

Spectral Analysis Centroid: 2,847 Hz Rolloff: 8.2 kHz (95th percentile) Flatness: 0.0012 Contrast: 28.4 dB Dissonance: 0.23

Interpretation: Centroid at 2.8 kHz indicates a bright vocal — typical for pop/rock leads. Rolloff at 8.2 kHz suggests controlled high end without excessive air. Low flatness confirms tonal (not noisy) content.

Your assistant reads this data, understands what it means, and gives you actionable mixing advice based on actual measurements, not guesswork.

Who is it for?

  • Audio engineers who want measurement-backed decisions during mixing and mastering
  • Producers who want quick diagnostics on tracks without opening a metering plugin
  • Musicians who want their AI assistant to understand audio technically, not just conversationally

What tools are available?

Phantom provides 19 tools organized by workflow stage:

Pre-mix analysis — Understand your material before touching faders:

  • Spectral analysis (frequency balance, centroid, rolloff)
  • Loudness measurement (LUFS, true peak, range)
  • Dynamics profiling (RMS, crest factor, dynamic range)
  • Phase coherence (per-band correlation, polarity)
  • Problem detection (clipping, DC offset, sibilance, mud, resonances)
  • Full diagnostic and batch diagnostic

During mixing — Make informed decisions while mixing:

  • Stereo imaging (width, balance, mid/side ratio)
  • Frequency masking analysis between stems
  • Multi-stem masking comparison
  • Phase comparison between sources

Mastering prep — Compare and match to targets:

  • Compare against genre profiles (EDM, hip-hop, acoustic, etc.)
  • A/B comparison against a reference track
  • Automated spectral/loudness/width matching

Remediation and processing — Fix problems and apply corrections:

  • Auto-fix detected problems with corrective EQ and filtering
  • Apply custom processing chains to files

Utilities:

  • Stem separation (vocals, drums, bass, instruments via Demucs)

Pro tip

You don’t need to memorize tool names. Just describe what you want to know about your audio — your AI assistant picks the right tool.

The full workflow

Phantom covers every stage from raw recordings to final master:

  1. Analyze — batch-diagnostic your stems to understand what you’re working with
  2. Fix — use fix_audio to correct clipping, DC offset, phase problems, and sibilance at the source
  3. Process — use apply_processing to apply EQ curves and compression chains during mixing and mastering
  4. Master — compare against references and genre profiles, get matching recommendations, then verify

Each step builds on the last. You’re not guessing at any point.

How is it different from a plugin?

Traditional pluginsPhantom
Visual meters you interpretNumbers your AI reads and interprets for you
One track at a timeBatch analysis across 50 files
You decide what to measureAI picks the right measurements for your question
Manual comparison workflowAutomated reference matching
Requires DAW openWorks from your terminal/editor

Next steps

Ready to try it? Install Phantom and run your first analysis.

Want to see every tool in detail? Browse the tools reference.