Master Bus and masterign question......

[xmortumx]

I had a question.. What do you guys do to your master bus when recording or mixing.

You guys leave it at unity and just make sure that the mix is lower so it wont clip and dont add any plug ins what so ever(to master bus).

or you guys add a limiter to the master bus making the mix louder.

This lead's to my next question for you guys that master you own songs.... when you guys export your mixdown do you guys export 24 bit or 16bit.... so when mastering you guys open the wav in 16 or 24 bit?

I need a little tutorial if some one would just telling me how they master their own songs.. like do they just open the mixdown in the daw and start adding eq, multiband compressors, limiter.. ect

Thanks.

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

The other stuff is opinion, but definitely send the mastering guy (even if it's yourself) the most high quality file you have.

 

[xmortumx]

anyone else?

 

[mintcheerios]

If it's being sent to a mastering house, I wouldn't compress or limit the bus at all. The mastering engineer can always add compression but can never take it away.

The mixdown should be exported to 24 bit since dithering to 16 bit is usually done at mastering stage.

This guide is useful even if you don't own the software.
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/OzoneMasteringGuide.PDF

Some people will tell you to never master yourself, but I think you can and should learn. Lots of pros in the industry do it including Andy.

 

[xmortumx]

Yeah dude thanks... well yea dude ur right ima master it myself no question about that because i want to learn and i want to make the most out of my demos. Im not expecting to sound pro or anything,... bust just try to sound decently lol.