Beat Making Center

We’re back at ground zero after finishing and working our arses off on a proper mix. Let’s say that you have finished working on the final mixdown of your tune and now you’d like to dwelve into mastering it – by yourself. The task will be extremely difficult, but if you follow our articles you might end up with an almost properly mastered tune. Remember our older articles on mastering? Feel free to browse around our website and check out this new article we’re hooking you up with.

It’s time for Uaudio’s input on mastering at our website. Check out these 5 quintessential tips on mastering from the highly renowned engineer, Michael Romanowski:

5 Things You Need To Know About Mastering Your Music

1) Be Prepared

When you show up at the session, it’s essential that you are prepared. You should clearly label which are the final mixes you’d like the engineer to use. You should have all the details of the file finalized such as song titles, sequencing, and metadata such asISRC codes and CD text. It’s also important to have documentation of any known problems with the files as well. Accurately note the existence and location of glitches, digital errors, distortion, bad edits, and level problems. This will save a lot of time and money during the mastering stage.

Additionally, you should know who the manufacturer will be, and what their requirements are for type of master and method of delivery. Make sure the songs have been accurately timed out, so that they will comfortably fit the size of the intended format(s). If you are supplying the pre-master mixes on an analog format (like tape), it is very important to include full reference tones and documentation of the specifics. This assures that the material will be played back at proper levels and bias.

2) Provide Alternate Mixes

A preferable way to present files is for the mix engineer to include alternative versions of the mix: vocal up, vocal down, solo up, solo down, etc. Remember it is important keep these alternate mixes well marked, organized, and documented.

With the advent of DAWs, one question that has come up is whether it is preferable to have stems as part of the delivery. Some engineers prefer stems to allow more tweaking and flexibility in the mastering process. However, there are also several potential drawbacks to this.

Including stems can blur the line between mixing and mastering. The mastering engineer can start to lose objectivity, because he or she is now tasked with balancing the final mix. Another concern is that the character of the whole doesn’t necessarily translate to the character of each of the stems. In trying to optimize each individual stem, the result is often detrimental to the nature of the final mix.

3) Don’t Over-Compress the Final Mix

Digital audio files should be delivered at the same resolution as the recording. It’s important that the mixes include some headroom to allow the mastering engineer room to work. A good rule of thumb is to have peaks at around -3 dBfs with an average (rms) around -10 to -14 dBfs. Final buss compression should remain minimal, because it’s not something the mastering engineer can undo. A standard practice can include final compression of the mixes as a reference file to the artist, but it’s best when that’s not included in the delivered files for mastering. With high-resolution audio there is no advantage to maxing out the levels.

There are two more final steps which can be read at the location of the full article. Make sure you read those, too – they’re related to another essential part of mastering: the room you’re mastering in and emotional detachment. It’s not always good to master your own tunes, maybe another masterng engineer will bring out elements of your song that you never thought could sound that good!

And we’re heading back to our most favourite tip of all times: experiment! Experiment with different versions of your mastered track. Try at least three or four versions to see which one works best. Good luck with your productions, show us what you have mastered and let’s connect via Facebook!

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