Preparing Your Files For Mastering
Preparing your files for mastering is an important step in ensuring that your music sounds polished and professional. Not just technically, but creatively as well.
Preparing your files for mastering is an important step in ensuring that your music sounds polished and professional. Not just technically, but creatively as well.
Ask yourself the question: "Are 100% satisfied with your mix"? If the answer is "Yes", then that is great! Step 1 is complete... Click HERE to continue! But if your answer is "No" or "Hmm... i'm not sure" then don’t worry — you’re not alone, and this guide is here to help.
Here's an easy to follow guide on how to prepare your mixes for mastering:
1. Send Your Audio in Its Original Format Keep your audio in its original sample rate and bit depth. Don’t upsample or downsample—submit your mix exactly as it was recorded. Please try to avoid submitting MP3's. If this is all you have, please let us know.
2. You Can Keep Your Mix Bus Processing On If your mix bus processing (compression, EQ, saturation, etc.) is integral to your sound, leave it on. If adjustments are needed, we can let you know if you need to reduce or removing it so we can reapply it in the mastering stage.
3. Leave At Least 1dB of Headroom The “-6dB headroom rule” is outdated. Aim for about 1dB of headroom to account for intersample peaks or overs while ensuring your mix isn’t clipping.
4. Add Silence Before and After Your Track Include at least 1 second of silence at the beginning and end of your track. This avoids cutting off important transients — especially if your project starts at 0:00.000. The same applies for the ending. Leave at least 1 second of silence to account for any reverb tails and to keep things as natural as possible.
5. Provide a Reference Master If possible, create a reference master by applying a limiter to bring your mix to a competitive level. This will help reveal potential issues like distorted kicks or buried elements. Try to avoid AI mastering tools as these often over process things way too much; a simple limiter will do the trick.
6. Communicate with Your Mastering Engineer If you have any specific requests, questions, or concerns, talk to your mastering engineer. Unlike AI tools, they bring a combination of technical expertise and a human understanding of your artistic vision. This collaboration ensures your music gets the treatment it deserves.
The foundation of every great-sounding track follows this simple formula: The better the recording, the better the mix, the better the master. While mastering can elevate your music with that professional gloss and sparkle, it’s not a cure-all. Your mix, before mastering, should already sound as close as possible to your artistic vision