Preparing the mix

follow these steps when sending your songs off for mastering

  • If possible make the mixes fade in and out how you already want them.

  • Make sure they at least all start and stop clean.

  • Bounce your mix at the original sample rate and bit depth. (WAV 44.1 kHz, 16 Bit or higher)

  • Remove any mix bus compression or limiting you may have on the mix bus unless it’s integral to the overall color/vibe of the mix.

  • Make sure the output is not clipping or hitting 0db. 3 to 6 db of headroom is great.

  • Please send Instrumentals and any other versions with the final mix if you are going to need those mastered.

  • Send me the rough master/hot mix if you have one.

  • Make sure you bounced with plugins at full resolution and turn off any room calibration software.

 
 

What is Stem Mastering?

Unlike stereo mastering, where you would send one stereo track to be mastered, stem mastering is where you provide the mastering engineer with 4 to 6 instrument-group stems. This gives the mastering engineer a bit more flexibility with controlling the mix. This is a great option for someone who doesn’t feel like they’re able to get the mix 100% there. What you will do is mix everything as you normally would, but when it comes time to bounce the mix, instead of bouncing one stereo mix file, you will solo each instrument group and bounce them as stems one at a time. (i.e. solo all the drums and bounce as one stereo file; then solo all the vocals and bounce that as one stereo file; then solo all the guitars… etc.)

Group tracks accordingly and provide us with 4 - 6 stems and we will take it from there.

If it sounds like your song would benefit from stem mastering, email us!