Out for Mastering

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thefish666

Member
Jun 28, 2007
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Hey guys If you are going to send out the tune to be mastered by someone else..What would your chain & bit /sample rate be on the master buss when you bounced to 2 tracks and sent it out to be mastered?

EQ (Sony Oxford )+ Stereo Imager (Waves S1)+ Multiband Compressor (C4) +

Tape Saturation(McDSP AC-1) etc...@ 24/44

I would love to know what you guys think......
 
I would drop the EQ because a professional mastering engineer will do a better job than you, drop the stereo imager because if the song needs it then the mastering engineer will do it appropriately himself, and drop the compressor because a professional mastering engineer will do a better job than you. The tape saturation I suppose can stay if you feel like it is definitely making the mix sound better...it shouldn't screw with the mastering guy, I don't think.

I don't mean to say that you suck or are stupid or anything by saying "...will do a better job than you", but the point I'm trying to make, is that a professional mastering engineer is a professional, so you should leave him as much freedom to make the decisions that you would want a professional to make. Sending him something that you've already EQed or compressed or widened is taking away some of his freedom.
 
put NOTHING on the master bus;
make sure the song is peaking at around -6db.

Im just downloading our album from Sterling sound!
FUCK YEAH!
 
I mix through a compressor all the time, helps me give some glue to an ITB mix. Only 1 or 2db tho, nothing to extreme for me (not a fan of a pumping 2 bus). I agree tho, leave the ME room to do his/her job. Compression on the bus is not a new concept been around for decades, SSL 2 bus comp for example. I dont beleive it distracts from the ME job as long as it leaves them room. Just had to give my 2 cents as it is ok to mix with a comp on the 2 bus. Some do it, some dont, pick yer posion :)
 
AStudio said:
I mix through a compressor all the time, helps me give some glue to an ITB mix. Only 1 or 2db tho, nothing to extreme for me (not a fan of a pumping 2 bus). I agree tho, leave the ME room to do his/her job. Compression on the bus is not a new concept been around for decades, SSL 2 bus comp for example. I dont beleive it distracts from the ME job as long as it leaves them room. Just had to give my 2 cents as it is ok to mix with a comp on the 2 bus. Some do it, some dont, pick yer posion :)
Click to expand...

true dat Andy.
forgot about that!!!
lol
just be sure to not ruin it for the ME is what i meant.
 
yep, exactly they got a job to do and they do it well, im sure people's on this board would be interested in what Sterling sound did to your mixes, how do you think they translated your mix job to a final cd, obviously they would have done a pretty damn sweet job but exactly what did you notice about the finals? EQ, comp, brickwalled (hope not), hope to hear the final and make sure you drop a cd in the post for me as im always a fan of your work :)
 
Ive only listened on headphones and macbook speakers so far... Not made it home to my A7's yet!
But even then i can hear that it sounds great.
Its like the mix i did; only with more depth, punch, clarity and outrageously loud; And the vocal is WAAAAAAY more upfront.

It is pretty Slammed, Truth be told, but the transients are still there! Its beyond me how they do it.
I'll Email Ue and see if i can find out what he did.
I'll post clips later
 
Awesome man, its amazing what a good mastering job does to a good mix, like you say, how they do it i dont know! I can slamm something (L1,L2) and it sounds like shit (no low end, no snare, all transients are chopped, they slamm something and it has more punch, clarity and even louder while still retaing the kick and low end and transient attack! Amazing stuff! A good mastering job is defo not to be overlooked :) yea dude send me an email and ill really be interested how they translate to the A7's, NS10's.
 
Yea I'm sending a project to be mastered professionally. The mastering engineer said its fine to run with a compressor on the 2 buss. He said only use it if it makes the mix sound better. Don't just use it to use it. But besides that he said no eq or limiting or anything else on there.

I asked cause i usually mix through a 2 buss compressor and so far my mixes sound better when i do this. I only use like 1-2 db or reduction though......
 
Some mastering engineers really love it when you send stems too....nothing crazy, just drums/guitars/bass/vocals/ etc. etc. Helps them keep the balance of your mix, especially when they really drive the sh*t out of there compression.

I'd ask your guy and see what he wants. He may want you to do alt mixes too like drums up, vocal ups and stuff like that. This little bit of extra work on your part will make his job alot easier, and make it sound better.
 
I'm not a big time mastering engineer, but this is what I prefer when I get stuff to master.....

-24bit wav or aiff sample rate doesn't matter
-Leave some headroom
-Take the limiter off the master
-Mix through a compressor if you want just be careful not to crush it too much
-Avoid stereo field editors and widening plugins because most people will go beyond tasteful with them. Communicate with the ME that you'd like the mix to be wider and they'll handle it.
 
It's definately a good idea to mix with a buss compressor on the entire mix. It helps you get an idea of how the elements will sit in the mix once it's mastered. Once your mix is done, you should defintaely bypass those plug ins. Stuff like Tape sims, or analog sims could probably stay, but it's probably best to leave it clean.
 
If you mix through a compressor from the start of the mix (on the 2 bus), try taking that compressor off your mix when its finished and watch everything fall apart. I dont agree that you can put a compressor on the 2 bus and mix through it and then take it off again at the end of the mix to send to ME. That 2 bus compressor IS part of the sound of the final mix and the reason why it sounds how you want it too sound.

Anyone using the Massey L2007 as a ghetto reference limiter, really good, cheap plug. Props to Mr Massey, absolute genious. $89 and just as good as L2. Check it out :)
 
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