If you plan to master your tracks or have an outside mastering house master your recordings (hopefully you’ve chosen the latter), there are a few rules that apply to make the experience a marvelous one. I’ll start with the Don’ts first!
Don’ts
Don’t mix-down your tracks using the brick wall effect. As a matter of fact, disable it. Loudness should be applied during the mastering stage.
Don’t apply compression, maximizer’s, or limiting at the main stereo bus. Only use the effects needed to enhance the recording such as reverb, delays, etc within the tracks. Compression is okay in the mix as needed. However remember what’s there is what will still be there after the mastering process.
Don’t mixdown at a level above -3 db at the least. Allow headroom for your engineer. This allowance varies between engineers.
Don’t assume your mastering engineer can fix what you should have fixed in the mix.
Don’t send the ONLY copy of your mix to the mastering engineer.
Don’t think because you have your track mixed dead center, the mastering engineer can pan it into the field. Utilize your panning field and be creative on each song track.
Don’t drop in fades. More likely yours are not as nice as the mastering engineer will make them.
Do’s
Do keep an open communication with your prospective mastering engineer. He will tell you exactly what he needs from you.
Do make sure your recordings are free of microphone noise such as pops, bumping the mic, and or air before and at the end of the recordings. All wave files should have a nice clean start and end.
Do know that the most important process of the mastering stage is the mix-down. (read that again!)
Do be sure you know the list of file formats your mastering engineer will accept.
Do submit your tracks in the order you want them to be, and be sure you include exact spelling of titles, and other text content to be included.
Speaking of notes, do tell your mastering engineer everything you want and expect from the process. Provide CD’s of commercial music you’d like your product to model. Be very specific in any other notes you may have.
Do understand your mastering engineer can only work with what you have given him.
Do know there’s a HUGE difference between mixing a track and mastering it.
Do you know what ISRC’s are? iTunes usually requires them.
Any additional preparations you’d like to add?… drop me a comment! Happy Noize Makin’!
If you like this post or find it helpful, drop some noize in the comment section!
When I began recording music, I learned quickly that my ears were the greatest asset in the studio. Therefore, I had to prepare for the journey of developing them for the studio environment.
Just as you should train your voice to sing correctly, you must train your ears to hear correctly. A developed ear takes time and practice, and hands-on is the most effective training. You have to know what to hear in order to know how to hear it. One of the hardest developments for me at first was hearing the differences in compression and limiting/gating. Different parameters produce different results, and as an engineer recording my product, it was essential I understand these settings and how they produce sound. This same ear applies to microphone placement.
A developed ear will hear a dry room versus a wet room and know what type of room works best for the project. A developed ear will hear whether a certain type of microphone is the best match for a particular vocal. As many of us don’t have the luxury of having 10 mics on hand to choose from, it’s important to understand in many cases, a single mic can cover many vocal opportunities by knowing how to tweak it to get the best result from it.
A developed ear understands the dynamics of mixing. As a mix goes through several critical stages such as tracking, editing, volume changes, mixing/blending, equalization, effects and processing; not hearing how to blend these elements can cause dreadful results. Ever listened to a mix and can tell right off what makes it a good or bad mix? Not by speculation, but by knowing? And keep in mind, I’m not talking about mastering. These are two separate entities whereas mastering involves a different type of ear.
Artists, it doesn’t hurt for you to begin this developmental process as well. The more you know, the more diverse you become in this industry. Know what makes your music sound good and hear what doesn’t.
How to care for your ears:
Don’t mix when you are ill or congested with cold/sinus issues.
Listening to loud music continuously can permanently damage the ears. (Did you know you don’t have to mix at loud levels to get good results?)
Protect your ears in extreme temperatures.
is common and you should rest when your ears tell you.
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