Thinking about send my new track of for professional mastering, got some questions
So im thinking about sending my track of for some professional mastering. It is a progressive house song which is almost ready to go. Just finishing up the last pieces and mixing it togheter. Currently i got a pre-made device on my mainbus called ‘‘punchy dance master’’ straight from ableton which makes it sound better and limits the peak to -0.30db, it is made for mastering and mixing. Should i remove this and let the mastering engineer do it all? Should I even have any device on my main bus? Is it ok to have a compressor there also? Im not so good when it comes down to mastering and mixing in general so maybe these questions are dumb lol.
Tarekith actually has a nice set of guidelines for any tracks he masters, and those are on his website. Following that would likely be pretty close to SOP for any mastering engineer.
In general we ask that you send files that have not already been limited or “self-mastered”, it really limits (no pun intended) what we can do when you’ve already taken out so much dynamic range. Some mixers will use a compressor for color on the master channel, and as long as it’s not squashing things to shit, that’s probably ok to leave.
Talk to your mastering engineer and see what they say though, some people work different. If anything send over a version with the processors and one without, then the ME can choose which one they want to use.
Thank you for the answer! You really made up my mind! I do guess though that putting compressors etc is only a rule for master bus and not individual tracks?
I have not really decided either where to master my track but i could give you guys a little preview to let you know what it sounds like, maybe my song is so bad it aint worth paying money to make it sound more professional lol?. I visited your page Tarekith and im actually considering it, im not completely sure where to go yet though but you are on my list !
I got my ‘‘mastering preset’’ on master track (which will be removed before mastering) but when i turn it off it sounds 10x worse. Should i consider mixing it greater to make it sound how i want before mastering or should i let the mastering process take care of it?
I’m using Ableton. After some mixing it do sound better though. I can upload 2 different versions on soundcloud and post here as a private link in message if someone would like to give me some feedback. Will post a screenshot in a second too.
Got the mix peaking at -6DB as highest now too so it’s starting to get ready.
I see. I create music and i think; ‘‘If it ain’t broken why fix it?’’. Music is like art and as long as it sounds good why change it? The only real trouble i have is making the kick cut through, i sidechain and use highpass filter but i’m stil struggling.
When it comes down to mastering how much difference can i expect between two different mastering engineers? Another guy have been in touch with me and want to master my track, on the other hand i want the best quality i can get from the mastering and I’ve heard tons of good things about your service Tarekeith.
It depends on the track. A really well mixed track will likely need less done to it, so the differences might be a bit more subtle. A track that has a few more issues will likely present more options for tweaking. Mastering is like any part of the music production process, there’s a lot of art involved and different people will approach it in different ways.
If you want to send me your song, I’ll master it and send you a small section of it. You can decide for yourself if you want to pay to get the rest of the master file, or go with your other guy. I likely won’t be in the studio until Monday though.
Ok thanks! I’ll get in touch with you via private message soon. The track is not 100% done and I’m still mixing it and changing parts but I’ll soon be there. I’ll send over a demo when I’m done!
Even though you’re high passing, don’t forget to make a cut in those items for the kick’s fundamentals. It takes some time for a high pass filter to actually cut something. In fact, I’ve found helping there are arrangement tricks in helping the kick through, but really cuts help moreso in getting the fundamentals of the kick and the snap of the kick to come out. And the snap of the kick usually occurs much further up the frequency spectrum.
Yes I think I find the ‘‘snap’’ around 1,2khz. I do boost those levels too. I think the problem also is that I might need to increase the volume of the kick, I got more headroom to do so so hopefully i can solve it via increased volumes and playing around with the eq.
Ok I’m know sure what is going on right now but I got a nice melody in ableton playing through massive, it sounds great and I loop it but when it’s starting over again and it loops it sounds bad and not like the first time i played it. Now the 3rd time it loops it sounds like it did when i first started it and it contiunes like this, first loop bad, 2nd loop good and so on. It sounds kinda ‘‘pitched up’’ or something. Are my ears just tired or is there something going on beacuse i can’t figure it out, especially not at this time of the night lol.
