Professional Mastering - Should I still gclip my snare?

[demirichris]

Hey guys,

I am in the process of finishing up a mix for mastering, I honestly can't stand the idea of having a lot of hard work ruined by my attempt to master ITB.

So before I send my mix out to the mastering studio, should I even worry about clipping my snare? I am wondering if it's best for me to do that now on just the snare track to give the mix some more headroom, or if I should just send it with those really peaking snare transients in-tact.

Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[crillemannen]

Why is the snare peaking?? If you like the snare to be quite loud in the final product it should perhaps be peaking 1.5-3db above the rest of the mix. I never use Gclip on my snare bus, seems like some people do but i dont. Just try to make the mix sound as good as possible before you send it to mastering.

 

[gabriel g.]

make the mix to sound the BEST way possible.
Dont lose time and quality by wasting thoughts on "mastering"

a real mastering engineer will make your mix sound great and loud without any compromises in the mixing stage.

BUT:
Be aware that your listening situation isnt the best. So use some analyser tool and check if your mix is well balanced. If you have to much power (volume in this case) in the lows, then take a closer look...same goes for the highs...

 

[B36arin]

Get your mix sounding as good as possible. I asked Peter in de Betou this exact question at a seminar a few weeks ago, and he had no problem whatsoever if people clipped their snare in the mix as long as it sounded good. But if you want to be as safe as possible send two different mixes, one with gclip on the snare bus and one without and let the mastering engineer decide which one he wants to use

 

[MetalSound]

I never use Gclip on my snare bus, seems like some people do but i dont. Just try to make the mix sound as good as possible before you send it to mastering.

yep!
if it sounds good then it IS good.

 

[waltz mastering]

before I send my mix out to the mastering studio, should I even worry about clipping my snare? I am wondering if it's best for me to do that now on just the snare track to give the mix some more headroom, or if I should just send it with those really peaking snare transients in-tact.

If you cut the top off the snare, it gives the ME less to work with... I would leave it intact. As long as your not hitting full scale you should be good. If you have a couple overs on the master fader you can just print with the master fader backed off a hair.

 

[demirichris]

My snare is nowhere near peaking the meters. It might pop over the mix two or three db at most. I just wanted to know if it made sense to clip it just a bit so the mastering engineer wouldn't have as much to tame on his end.

So you guys really use frequency analyzers when mixing? I know my room is less than optimal for bass response, but I am trying my hardest not to lean on visual cues. For those of you who do, do you aim to have a mix that's pretty flat across the board frequency wise?

 

[waltz mastering]

My snare is nowhere near peaking the meters. It might pop over the mix two or three db at most. I just wanted to know if it made sense to clip it just a bit so the mastering engineer wouldn't have as much to tame on his end.

There's no useful reason to purposely clip the snare before sending it out for mastering... Email or call your ME. I'm sure they'll tell you the same... If there's still any question you can burn a mix with and without and send them both to choose from.

 

[reg3n]

make the mix to sound the BEST way possible.
Dont lose time and quality by wasting thoughts on "mastering"

a real mastering engineer will make your mix sound great and loud without any compromises in the mixing stage.

BUT:
Be aware that your listening situation isnt the best. So use some analyser tool and check if your mix is well balanced. If you have to much power (volume in this case) in the lows, then take a closer look...same goes for the highs...

i'm curious about this, which (software) tools would you recommend?