Question again..

[scottboyher]

Is the mastering stage done after your mix is mixed down to stereo tracks or is it done before you mix all of your tracks down?

Or both? Whats the norm? Is there a norm?

Ok several questions..

[Track Rat]

Howdy neighbor. After it's mixed to a stereo track. And usually an albums worth of material (read two or more songs).

[James Argo]

Is the mastering stage done after your mix is mixed down to stereo tracks or is it done before you mix all of your tracks down?

It's done AFTER you mixed.

Before mixing is called Track Editing.

No special norms, the routine just usually goes Rec (tracking) --> Editing (if necesary&affordable) --> Mixing --> Mastering.

You can run fine without mastered, but nowdays people tend to master their mixed material to get much better (...but sometime worse ) end result.

[scottboyher]

Thanks guys!