What format to mixdown to?

[Nightfire]

After Im done recording/mixing and Im happy with the song, what do I mix it down to. I have always done mp3 so I could post it online, but now I actually wanna record it to a CD (final version) so what format do I mix it down to? In other words, what format are regular music CDs in?

Mike

 

[Farview]

Either wav or aaif. Normally you would mix it down to 24 bit, then dither down to 16 bit during mastering.

 

[rayc]

What Farview said...
But I'd say even more WAVE.
If your not waving you must be drowning.
If you've been mixing to MP3 - you may find you need to remix for wave etc. as the sound will be different.

 

[danny.guitar]

WAV files need to be 44.1KHz/16-bit stereo to be put on an audio CD.

After you're done mastering or whatever, render the WAV as 44.1KHz/16-bit and then burn to CD. That should be your last step.

 

[Nightfire]

Thanks to all., anyone know a free "rendering" program that can do all these conversions?
Also, if an aquaintance agrees to "master" a song, does he need all 6 tracks individually on wav?


Mike

 

[Farview]

What program are you recording with, that should be able to render to all these formats. (you shouldn't mix down to mp3 ever, you should mix down to wav then convert it to mp3)

If by 'tracks', you are talking about mixed songs, then yes that's what you need to give the mastering engineer. If you are talking about tracks, (as in guitar track, bass track, vocal track, etc...) then, no.

 

[Nightfire]

Im using Mixcraft and it mixes down to both .wav and .mp3, however I lost some of my projects and only have the mp3 finished song left. From now on I will mixdown to .wav.
By tracks I meant individual tracks (guitar, bass etc.). Thanks for the fast reply Fairview.


Mike

 

[danny.guitar]

For 'mastering' I'd just send the mixdown of the entire song, not the individual tracks. If you aren't happy with the mix then that's usually what a mixing engineer does.

But if there's only like 6 tracks, giving him the whole session with all the tracks will give him a lot more control over the final product. I guess whatever makes it easier/better for him.

But in most cases, mastering usually means you send the stereo mixdown to the engineer and he works with that single stereo WAV file.

 

[Nightfire]

Ok, thats less complicated than expected then. Any ideas what Im looking at to have 6-8 tracks "mastered"? Im assuming that mastering basically entails polishing the song up a little (taking out white noise etc.?) and making sure all tracks are at the same volume?


Mike

 

[Farview]

A mastering engineer thakes your stereo mix and polishes it up. Taking the individual instrument tracks and mixing them to stereo is mixing, not mastering. You need to mix it first. If your individual tracks are noisey, you should get rid of the noise before you mix. You don't want all the individual tracks the same volume (why would you want the bass guitar as loud as the vocals?)

You might be getting confused (or I might be) about the work 'tracks'.

A mastering engineer will make sure all the tracks (as in track 1 and track 2 on the finished CD) are the same volume.

A mix engineer will mix a bunch of tracks (as in bass track, vocal track, etc...) together to get a mix.

 

[Nightfire]

Yeah, I understand the mixing process and am comfortable "mixing" my tracks. I guess I should use the word songs instead of tracks.
How much can I expect to pay for 8 songs to be mastered, and is it crucial to outsource this. I.e, is there a big difference in sound after they are "mastered".

Mike

 

[danny.guitar]

Yeah, I understand the mixing process and am comfortable "mixing" my tracks. I guess I should use the word songs instead of tracks.
How much can I expect to pay for 8 songs to be mastered, and is it crucial to outsource this. I.e, is there a big difference in sound after they are "mastered".

Mike

There's a couple of people here (masteringhouse and Massive Master) that you can try first (as well as a bunch of other people online). I believe they offer a sample of the mastered song. ie: You send them a song you want mastered and they send back a sample of what you can expect it to sound like.

I would personally deal with one of those 2 first, not because they frequent this board but because they have a good reputation. I would definitely try them before any of the '25$ mastering' places online that will just run your song through a plugin chain.

You'd have to ask them about the cost, and then decide based on the samples they provide whether or not it's worth the price.

 

[Nightfire]

Thanks for the help. I got quoted $100 per song at a local studio today...that seems steep to me but then again Ive never asked before anywhere else. I really dont want to pay more than $30 a song if possible, I know I know, but Im a cheap college student and Im going away for a year and Europe aint cheap!


Mike