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I have been recording, mixing, and mastering my songs for about 6 years now (I know, I know... It takes at least 50-60 years to train your ears! 
). Anyway, I have taught myself the process and have had to "unlearn" some big mixing/mastering no-no's (like mixing with the mastering effects already set up on the master buss and active). I have been to a mastering session with John Vestman and watched him do "separation" mastering when I was in LA. He worked so fast I couldn't catch everything. However, I still don't know what a good mix sounds like. What is it supposed to sound like BEFORE I start running it through the mastering effects? Also, my typical line up for the mastering buss is: EQ (low-end) Linear Phase Multi-band, Comp (maybe), Linear phase Eq, BBE or Maxx Bass, S-1 Stereo Imager (shuffle), L2 Maximizer (set limit to .01db).
Can someone post a sample of what a pre-master should generally sound like in the pop/rock genre? Am I missing something in my mastering chain?
I use Sonar 7 Producer and use all VST Pluggins for everything (Waves, SSL, Cakewalk bundled)
). Anyway, I have taught myself the process and have had to "unlearn" some big mixing/mastering no-no's (like mixing with the mastering effects already set up on the master buss and active). I have been to a mastering session with John Vestman and watched him do "separation" mastering when I was in LA. He worked so fast I couldn't catch everything. However, I still don't know what a good mix sounds like. What is it supposed to sound like BEFORE I start running it through the mastering effects? Also, my typical line up for the mastering buss is: EQ (low-end) Linear Phase Multi-band, Comp (maybe), Linear phase Eq, BBE or Maxx Bass, S-1 Stereo Imager (shuffle), L2 Maximizer (set limit to .01db). Can someone post a sample of what a pre-master should generally sound like in the pop/rock genre? Am I missing something in my mastering chain?
I use Sonar 7 Producer and use all VST Pluggins for everything (Waves, SSL, Cakewalk bundled)