Essential thing you should know for a better Mastering

In terms of mixing, there are a few tips I can offer, in addition to those I already mentioned. Often, artists spend many an hour in the mixing studio, trying to get “huge” sound at that stage, when really getting everything out of the tracks is something that’s far better left to the mastering engineer. As odd as it may sound, sometimes a “small” or “dull” mix is really a lot better to work with. Also, keep in mind that it’s usually the mastering engineers job to make volume and compression adjustments. Another big thing is to be restrained with the use of “mastering processors” (i.e. compressors, equalizers, limiters, exciters and the “finalizers” we tend to see these days) across the master buss—if you do that at the mixing stage, it’s next to impossible to “undo” during the mastering


Lorenz Vauck - Audio Mastering Engineer

Sender wrote:

In terms of mixing, there are a few tips I can offer, in addition to those I already mentioned. Often, artists spend many an hour in the mixing studio, trying to get “huge” sound at that stage, when really getting everything out of the tracks is something that’s far better left to the mastering engineer. As odd as it may sound, sometimes a “small” or “dull” mix is really a lot better to work with. Also, keep in mind that it’s usually the mastering engineers job to make volume and compression adjustments. Another big thing is to be restrained with the use of “mastering processors” (i.e. compressors, equalizers, limiters, exciters and the “finalizers” we tend to see these days) across the master buss—if you do that at the mixing stage, it’s next to impossible to “undo” during the mastering


Lorenz Vauck - Audio Mastering Engineer

Another thing to note when preparing a mix for mastering, as sender has already stated, remove all your master buss processing that effect dynamic range in an extreme way. A very small amount of compression doesnt do much harm if you use it for a specific reason. In that case i would suggest sending 2 version to the mastering engineer. One with the Master Buss enabled, the other without. Also another thing that is helpful is to try aim for around -12db average level. This gives the mastering engineer plently to work with allowing for a much smoother mix rather than everything riding the 0db level and having zero dynamics in place to work with already.

3 posts with great info thanks guys!!!

Cornelia wrote:

3 posts with great info thanks guys!!!

Glad to help. Any questions, feel free to ask..