Mastering question

[Downtuned]

Hi im about to give a spot of mastering a try. Not professionally, I just think my mixes need a little sparkle. i always just thought you could do it on the master bus but i've heard it's better to export to a single wav and then master that.

my question is, i heard that it is best to take everything off before mastering, but is that just the master bus only or take everything off every bus and channel? The second option seems the silliest to me as some processing/compressing on my guitar/drum/bass buses are part of the mix and if they are taken off the mix will be different.

I'm assuming it's only the master bus you should clear but I just want to make sure. i have izotope ozone but i'd like to try it with raw individual tools first to take away the temptation of using presets. thanks.

 

[zer0_c00l]

it's obviusly just the master bus that you should take off, and remember, your mix should already kick ass without mastering!

 

[waltz mastering]

If you have processors like eq and compression on the master buss, I wouldn't worry about removing them so much if you like the sound. It's more about removing anything that is used on the master buss for pure gain or level that you would want to remove.

 

[Downtuned]

Thanks for the replys, yeah i guessed it was just the master bus but i just wanted to make sure.