Mixing for future PRO mastering

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pappy999

New member
I am in the middle of a record with a band that wants to have this stuff professionally mastered. I have never sent any of my mixes to a pro mastering facility. What should I be looking for in my mixes so the mastering engineer is able to do his job better? Should I mix at a lower level than I am used to so the ME has some headroom to work with? I usually apply some light mastering techniques to my mixes when I give a client the final copies(ie: light eq and limiting). I will avoid doing that for this band. I assume the ME needs only a 24bit copy of the mixes. Any help would be appreciated.
 
pappy999 said:
I am in the middle of a record with a band that wants to have this stuff professionally mastered. I have never sent any of my mixes to a pro mastering facility. What should I be looking for in my mixes so the mastering engineer is able to do his job better? Should I mix at a lower level than I am used to so the ME has some headroom to work with? I usually apply some light mastering techniques to my mixes when I give a client the final copies(ie: light eq and limiting). I will avoid doing that for this band. I assume the ME needs only a 24bit copy of the mixes. Any help would be appreciated.
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For peak levels avoid hitting 0, -3 to -6 is fine.
Save mix at the same sample rate used to record the tracks, and save as 24 bit stereo interleaved files on a data CD (my preference for digital mixes, check with your engineer on this it may vary).

The biggest thing to be concerned about is the mix itself. Listen for inconsistencies in the sound (e.g. cymbals are bright other tracks are dull), elements that are popping out of the mix at various points (candidates for track compression). The main thing is to be sure to address any issues that are not easily addressable at the mastering stage. Listen to your mix on as many systems as you can. If it translates well, there shouldn't be any problem mastering it.

Mastering is primarily about getting all of the songs to sound cohesive on the album and bring out their full potential, it's the mix engineer's job for getting the tracks to sound great.
 
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I have *some* info (mostly aimed at "rookies" but there may be a few things to think about in there) on the MM site...

Look for the PDF linked from the left side of the home page...
 
I read the info on your massive mastering. I will try to leave a little headroom on these mixes. I have the mixes sounding as good as they can be right now. Another question:

I usually bounce to a 24 bit stereo file to apply some light mastering. In this stage I also try to bring up the levels of any lower volume parts (ie: a vocal or guitar break). Should I do this before the mastering stage? Will the mastering engineer want to do this himself?
 
You'll definitely want to apply a generous amount of EQ and hard-limiting.

Masteing Engineers love it when you do that stuff.

It makes their job easier. :D One less thing they have to do.

.
 
Thanks Massive Mastering for the comments. They were helpful. A special thanks to Chest Cock for the hard limiting and eq comment.
 
pappy999 said:
In this stage I also try to bring up the levels of any lower volume parts (ie: a vocal or guitar break). Should I do this before the mastering stage? Will the mastering engineer want to do this himself?
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I'd try as hard as possible to hit that IN the mix - Lift the levels of what needs to be lifted, when they need to be lifted. This will help make dynamics at the mastering stage that much more transparent.
 
pappy999 said:
Thanks Massive Mastering for the comments. They were helpful. A special thanks to Chest Cock for the hard limiting and eq comment.
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10 points there for handling the sarcasm like a true gentleman.
 
Massive Master said:
I'd try as hard as possible to hit that IN the mix - Lift the levels of what needs to be lifted, when they need to be lifted. This will help make dynamics at the mastering stage that much more transparent.
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I agree with John, while it's possible to take care of breaks, intros, etc. via automation in the mastering stage without using a compressor, it's more of a mix decision.
 
masteringhouse said:
...automation...
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That's the kicker there - This should be the easiest time in history for mastering engineers. Being able to automate things *in the mix* that you couldn't automate on a $500,000 console just a decade ago...

Instead, it seems like it's getting harder for some reason... :cool:
 
Massive Master said:
That's the kicker there - This should be the easiest time in history for mastering engineers. Being able to automate things *in the mix* that you couldn't automate on a $500,000 console just a decade ago...

Instead, it seems like it's getting harder for some reason... :cool:
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As the cost of technology goes down, more people lacking the knowledge on how to use the tools will be involved. Happens in every industry, audio, video, music distribution, etc. It's one of the reasons forums like this are so important and to have expert input on the forum, or at least around as bullshit police. Forums like this are a low cost way to educate and make people aware of options that they may not consider on their own. Not as good as taking an audio course or interning at a facility, but at least a good place to knock ideas around and get ideas and feedback.

The only complaint that I have is I wish that there was a better way to organize this information by topic. Using titles created by the author (who may sometimes not know the correct terminology) isn't the best. And searching through hundreds of posts to find what you want usually just means that people will repost the question adding to the problem.
 
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