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- Clean up extraneous noises - hum, hiss, clicks and pops removed whenever and as best as possible. This includes making all edits are clean. Crossfade when needed to eliminate non-zero-crossing clicks.) Make sure all fades/decays on the tracks are clean, especially at the end of the song. If you cannot clean out noises (or get artifacts when trying to) please take note of the issues, including what time in the track(s) they occur, if relevant, and put them in a text file in the track folder. The technically cleaner the tracks, the more I can concentrate on the actual mix. See the next note, too... - Make sure all unneeded parts within tracks are muted/edited out. Make sure the mutes and/or fades are smooth, clean and natural sounding. Unless abrupt/unnatural is the desired sound! One exeption to this is if there is consistent hiss or hum on a track you cannot deal with or are uncomfortable trying to deal with yourself, please leave at least 1 second of it on the track before the entrance of the instrument or vocal. That way I have something I can use to try and mitigate it myself. If I cannot find the noise print "in the clear" (that is, if you edit the track tightly to try and mitigate it) it will be baked into the actual track, and I won't be able to try other noise mitigation techniques. - Do not get overly concerned with time-aligning drum mics. That is, don't worry too much about time-aligning the overheads to the snare or kick, for example. Or don't do it at all. If I feel some time adjustment will help, I will address it. Of note, though, when recording (or at the file preparation stage) you can check the polarity of, for example the top snare mic to the overheads to see if it sounds better one way or another, and likewise the bottom snare mic (if there is one) to the top snare mic, that's cool. Same goes for the tom or kick mics relative to the overheads. This can be a rabbit hole though - changing the polarity of one thing relative to another might make those things sound good, but can throw other things "out of phase" in the process. I have dealt with hundreds and hundreds of multi-mic drum recordings, so when in doubt, rest assured it's something I check and can work with. - If you have gating you really like, for example, on the tom mics, consider sending those tracks with and without the gates (see below on rendering with processing vs without.) I may find that the cymbal bleed may be dealt with in other ways that might sound better than simple gating. If they were recorded with gates, well, it is what it is... I'll work with it. - Label all files logically. For example: "K" or "KICK" instead of "song_name_K" or "drums_k" or worse still, "track 1" Naming like "GTR chorus" or "KEYS bridge" can be helpful. Shorter, simpler and clear file names preferred. Common abbreviations like K (kick) SN (snare) RT (rack tom) FLR (floor tom) OH or CYM (for drum overheads) HH (high hat) GTR or EGTR (electric guitars) ACOU (acoustic guitar) VOX or LDVOX (lead vocals) VOX DBL or LDVOX DBL (lead vocal doubles) BVOX (backing vocals) or BVOX HARM (harmony vocals) are great. Things like "SN top", "SN bot", "K in" K out" help clarify things too. If there are multiple musicians or singers performing, for example, vocals or guitar, putting their name or initial at the end of the file name can help if we need to communicate about them. For example "BVOX S" or "BVOX Shawn". Directly recorded things like bass can be "BASS DI". The same thing through an amp can be "BASS AMP". Constistency and clarity are the goals, with the added benefit of keeping the file names short. - Put all files for each song in their own, clearly labeled, folder. - Make sure all the tracks start at exactly the same start time (usually 0:00:00.000 in the session or project.) They don't have to be all the same length, but please make sure all the fadeouts are complete and not cut off. Leave extra time at the end of each file if in doubt. - Don't worry about "normalizing" tracks for maximum level. If the tracks were recorded well, especially at 24 bit or greater, even tracks that peak between -18 and -12 will be perfectly fine! - If the track is mono (recorded with one input or microphone, or from a source such as a mono plug-in) please send those as single channel or mono files. Likewise, if the tracks are stereo (recorded that way, from a stereo plug-in, or made stereo because of processing choices such as chorus,) render them as either stereo interleaved files, or clearly labeled with "_L" and "_R" at the end of the filename for each channel in the pair. - Uncompressed audio formats only, please. WAV or AIFF, for example. MP3 or AAC are ok ONLY if that's the only format available. Note that a multitrack made up of data compressed audio files will have any artifacts from that data copression baked into the sound. It can add up. Note that this isn't about dynamic range compression - if you have a sound dynamically compressed to your liking, that's cool. - On that note, if you have processing on your tracks you really like, please render with it included. If you have doubts then send files both with and without the processing. Please label them accordingly, and send the processed and unprocessed files in separate folders, ideally. - Include a text file with any notes regarding what to expect from the files, what you desire from the mixes, etc. - If you need a link to upload a large set of files, email me and I will provide you with one. I prefer this over Dropbox, Drive or other services, especially if I would need to "log in," "add to" my files on that service, or be "authorized," etc... This can sometimes be a slowdown in my accessing the files. Doing all this preparation will allow me to focus on mixing as opposed to housekeeping, saving me time and thus keeping your budget down! Email me if you have any questions! |
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- Please send lossless audio. WAV, AIFF, ideally. No MP3 or AAC or other lossy formats! If the *only* files you have are lossy formats, I'll still do my best to make them sound great, however. But this is far from the ideal. - Sample rate should be at the session sample rate. No need to sample rate convert. I will downsample as needed. - 24 bit or greater bit depth, please. If all you have is 16 bit, that's not the end of the world. - Please specify at the outset if you will need different versions (higher resolution, etc.) This is usually not a problem, and my policy isn't to charge extra for different versions, unless some very left field thing is needed. (This hasn't happened yet!) - Likewise, if you're looking to release digital (cd/streaming) and vinyl versions, let me know. I usually approach them slightly differently. But most of the time I don't have a need to charge extra for these variations. (Cassettes can be made from either version. The cd/streaming version is what most people make cassettes from, and I've never had a complaint in that regard.) - Please don't send mixes that have been limited (or heavily compressed) simply to "make them loud". This ties my hands in terms of being able to do many things, including eq, dynamic processing, etc. Please only send mixes that have master buss effects that are *essential* to the sound of the music. I can make things loud if needed! - On that note, "louder" isn't always better. It's a myth that louder sounds better on the radio. And likewise, above a certain level, streaming services simply turn down louder masters anyhow. So, making things louder just for the sake of louder can end up robbing your tracks of dynamics. - Additionally, I don't require any "headroom" (like sending mixes at -6 db peak, or whatever) but please don't send mixes that peak right up at 0db - or worse, contain clipping. (Unless clipping is a thing you consciously did for the sound of the music in a creative sense. Please let me know if that is the case and your creative choice!) - Please make sure your tracks start and - perhaps more importantly - end cleanly. Listen carefully for extraneous noises in the fade/decay of the songs, for example, and strive to remove them in your mixes. I can do a lot in terms of cleaning this stuff up, but it does create more work that takes my attention away from the actual sonics of the master. This includes making sure the fade outs at the ends of the songs aren't cut off! Check to make sure! - Listen carefully for other noises like clicks, pops, breath plosives (thumps on "p" or "b" sounds, for example) and other things like hiss, hum, electrical buzzes and so on. Non-musical sounds, in other words. Strive to clean those things up in your mixes (or if you're recording, strive to get rid of them at the source!) Hiss and hum, other noises, too, can be very disruptive in a sustaining decay at the end of a song, or in a quiet break in the middle of a track, too. I can do a lot to reduce these sounds, but the needed processing/sonic manipulation can come at a tonal cost sometimes. And, like mentioned above, takes my attention away from working on the actual sound of the master overall. - Include in your email or in a text file with the audio files the actual song titles, song order, album title and artist/band name. While you'll input this information when you upload your music for digital distribution, it can be very helpful when pressing CDs and making other files for other methods of distribution. - Send notes for things like track spacing, sonic ideals like how bright/warm/etc you'd like to have the album and songs to be perceived, how loud you'd like the overall album to be (see above regarding this as well) and concepts for songs that should perhaps appear slightly louder or softer than the others. To that end, I do pay attention to how some songs "want" to be louder or softer in context of the others, but your ideas and feedback are welcome! - Regarding track spacing, if crossfades are needed between songs, please understand that for digital formats (cd/streaming, etc) individual songs will have to start/end somewhere in the crossfade. This applies in a few ways. Playing individual songs, whether on CD or on streaming, means some kind of abrupt start or end where the track starts or ends in the crossfade. And some streaming services (and even many MP3/digital player devices or apps) cannot play an album "gapless." Which means your carefully crafted crossfades likely will be interrupted by a brief pause. (I've made several albums of my own with complicated crossfades - I know this from personal experience!) But don't let that stop you creatively. Just know the caveats. - If you have any questions, please email and ask! |
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Too long, read anyway: What is Mastering? It's the final step in the process of examining the single/ep/album before release and evaluating if anything can or should be done to improve it for as wide an audience and diverse of playback systems as possible. It can be target-platform dependent. Depending on the material and the release formats, sometimes different approaches may be needed to best fulfill those outlets. It is the job of a responsible mastering engineer to understand the details this all entails, to keep up with changing technologies, and to be attuned and attentive to the artist's needs and desires as well. Mastering can encompass something as simple as a bit of judicious gain and/or EQ (or to know when *nothing* is needed for a particular mix!) to creative solutions to make, for example, a number of songs work as a whole listening experience, while also maintaining the individual character of each mix. Years and years of experience is honestly the only way to get to that point of ability. (It is NOT about adding a smiley-face EQ and a brickwall limiter and calling it a day. Unless it IS! But...) It's a chance to get feedback about the mix(es) and possibly correct something that should be corrected at the mix stage as opposed to "fixing" it in mastering. Being required to send only mixes you're absolutely "happy with" is totally ridiculous. There are too many factors to know exactly how your mix will translate through a mastering chain... so: Yes, I do take mix revisions with no extra charge - within reason, of course. It's the final stage of your project - the budget shouldn't come with surprises! (Many mastering places don't, or severely restrict the number of them at least, and I do not understand why. Isn't the goal the best release possible? Some even only accept mixes with the caveat that they "assume the client is happy with their mixes." Well now, how is the client actually supposed to know that, really?) If need be, you'll find I'm quite generous in this regard. If you hear something after I put my ears on it that you'd like to change, go for it! I do it all the time. Happy to. Let's not cut any corners. It's also the time when the spacing between songs, cleaning up of the starts and ends, and so on (the "sequencing") can really come together. Something that is sometimes overlooked when putting together a set of songs into something bigger. It's knowing the finer details about bit depth, sample rate, dither, dynamic range and many other factors including a whole host of other things that look like jargon/mumbojumbo when typed in a post like this. (...LUFS? What the heck are LUFS? (Email me - I'll answer any qustions like this as promptly as possible!)) There are many myths and misunderstandings surrounding audio and delivery formats. Anyone with a computer (or even a bunch of analog gear - that's another topic altogether) can call themselves a "mastering engineer". Even *great* recording engineers can hang out their shingle on this, with sometimes mixed results. But would you trust someone with a hydraulic jack, a socket wrench set, and a youtube video watchlist to fix something detailed and complicated with your car? Or someone who dabbles in it but hasn't made it one of their main focuses for, well, maybe almost three decades? Years and years of deep listening and an ever-growing knowledge base of audio, psychoacoustics, and playback systems and formats can and do make a lot of difference. Never mind the whole "AI/automated/online mastering" scam. You get what you pay for. Believe me, I test them. This is why I not only master at an affordable rate, but at a *flat* rate. It's the final step in your process, your release of your art. You should be absolutely *thrilled* to let it out into the world. Consider me to be a part of your team bringing your project and vision to fruition! |
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