1. GET THE MIX RIGHT
Remember when you were recording and you said you would “Fix it in the mix?” Well, the time has come. Don’t expect your mastering engineer to be able to make sure the vocals pop or correct any issues between the kick and the bass. Since mastering engineers only have the final two-track to work with (or at most a few stems), they can’t change the sound of an individual instrument or the balance of your mix.
The mastering process is more like a coat of polish than a coat of paint, there’s only so much that can be done.
So make sure you’re completely satisfied with your mix before sending it off to mastering.
2. CLEAN UP THE INDIVIDUAL TRACKS
On top of making sure your mix sounds good from an artistic perspective, this is your last chance to make sure there are no technical issues with your mix. Solo each track and make sure there are no audible problems like clicks, thumbs, pops or plosives. Listen for bad edits and rough fades.
It’s important to identify any potential issues now, because they’re just going to get louder and more noticeable after mastering.
Just be careful not to get too surgical with your EQ moves when cleaning up tracks.
3. REMOVE BUS PROCESSING
When it comes to mix-bus processing like EQ, compression and more, that’s a little more subjective. If you feel that a mix bus plug-in is adding a lot of value to your mix that the mastering engineer wouldn’t be able to deliver, then keep it. Otherwise, you should bypass everything on the mix bus.
Think of it this way: If you load up your mix bus with plug-ins, what are you paying the mastering engineer to do?
Another approach is to bounce multiple versions and send us both the processed and unprocessed mixes.
4. CHECK YOUR LEVELS
These days, it’s common practice to throw a limiter on the mix bus, either to make your mix sound more competitive or just to get a clearer image of what the final product might sound like.
However, you should disable any limiters or loudness plug-ins before sending your mix off for mastering.
Some engineers suggest that mixes should have -3 dB of headroom for mastering, while others insist -6 dB is better.
The truth is, as long as you’re not clipping or using a limiter, anything below 0 dB should be fine, but obviously less is more in this case and if we receive a final mix that is at -6 to -10 dB - that is OK also! :)
5. BOUNCE THE FINAL MIX
When it comes time to bounce your final mix, make sure you’re using the highest sample rate your session will allow. Whether you work in 96 kHz or 48 kHz, it’s best to leave any sample rate conversion to the pros with mastering-grade sample rate converters.
When it comes to bit-depth, use the highest option possible.
Even though your analog recordings will be capped at 24-bits, plug-ins and virtual instruments can operate well above that range.
Thankfully, most DAWs offer 32-bit floating point options.
Before bouncing your final mix, make sure to leave plenty of space at the beginning and end of the track.
It may seem counter-intuitive since you’ve spent all this time cleaning up the mix, but us mastering engineers can use the dead air to isolate and remove unwanted noise such as hissing, humming or buzzing audio equipment, and even excessive room noise if needed.
6. LISTEN CRITICALLY
After bouncing your final mix, it’s important you actually listen to it before sending it to the mastering engineer. Not only is it important to make sure there are no errors, like accidentally clipping off the beginning or end of the song or leaving a track muted, but this is also your last chance for quality control.
Give your track one final listen and make sure you can’t hear any technical problems.
Check it out on a few different systems and see how the mix sounds.
Import the bounced file into your DAW and use an analyzer to make sure there are no obvious technical issues.
Throw on your favorite headphones and make sure you can’t hear any subtle mistakes.
7. MAKE SURE YOUR DATA IS IN ORDER
Last but not least, it’s important to prepare all of the release information for your track before sending it to a mastering engineer.
It can be extremely confusing for mastering engineers to receive songs labeled “Song 7 Final Mix Edit 2 Vox Up FINAL”.
Make sure you know the title of the song (and the name of the album if that’s part of the release plan) and label the file appropriately.
An easy suggestion is to just increment your mixes. Mix 1, Mix 2, Mix 3. Nobody cares how many mixes you had to print. And once you get close to printing the final, put the date in the name of the file, like Mix_5_9_30_2019.
THAT'S ALL FOLKS!
LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING TOGETHER ON YOUR NEXT MASTER!