Send it off for mastering...

[volthause]

I'd like to get some idea here about the (general) good practice of mix engineers when sending stuff out to the Mastering Engineer.

My EP is nearly done, and we've chosen a Mastering Engineer in the area who is good and comes with recommendations. Per his delivery preference, I'll be sending 24 bit, 48 Khz wav files (data on disk, not audio) to him.

Is there anything else that would be helpful to include and/or do to help make this guys job easier, and to ensure I get the finished product that best suits what I want / need?

[oudplayer]

Is there something special or particular you'd like the mastering engineer to do? Do you "need" a loud mix, or do you want it to "breathe?" Should it be more "aggressive?" Any problems you know already about the song mixes you have? Are there any specific things you DON'T want them to do (like clipping the digital converters)?

These are questions I've asked mastering engineers and have been asked of me when I was doing mastering... doesn't mean that they can always be answered, but it's a starting point.

Hope this helps,
-oud

[chrisj]

Do you have an intended sequence, a label, ISRC codes, UPC codes, anything like that?

[malice]

Is there anything else that would be helpful to include and/or do to help make this guys job easier, and to ensure I get the finished product that best suits what I want / need?


It depends if you really like the general tone of your mixes.

If you feel like nothing is missing (a bit of air, tighter bass etc), you should tell him this so (or warn him of any of your concerns)

Don't forget to tell him if you have particular demands concerning gap durations between songs.

Tell him what kind of level you want. No need to be to specific, but if you don't want insane "vlad the impaler" level, you should state it clearly.

best of luck;

malice

[malice]

Or you do like Mixerman, you simply say :

"Dave, you gotta save my ass"

enjoy

malice

[Comte de St Germain]

Or you do like Mixerman, you simply say :

"Dave, you gotta save my ass"

enjoy

malice

That's not funny.

[bunnerabb]

Your hat looks a bit silly, now, Comte.

:D

[Comte de St Germain]

Your hat looks a bit silly, now, Comte.

:D


There, the hat is gone, from Tomte to Comte.


Dave is the man.


It's just, two times today I've been subjected to talk of Mixerman's ass, somehow related to Malice. Uh... The real problem is I came home from the studio last night to my wife and her two girlfriends talking about stuff that guys aren't supposed to hear. Now this...

Tee hee.

[eagan]

I have to confess I never understand when people want files at 48K sample rate, to end up on a 44.1K medium. Yes, I know it can be dealt with, but all that strikes me as an ugly kludge that would be better avoided.

With all the attention people give to the phenomenon of mastering as a process of sprinkling of magic sonic fairy dust, I think it's easy for people to just forget about what I always figured was the actual proper subject of CD mastering. Assembling the whole thing along a timeline on a master disc with indexing and stuff. Maybe I'm a complete oddball, but I see that stuff as what a CD mastering engineer should be doing, not "hand it over to the guy who runs it through the sonic wringer to keep the meters hanging at 0dB all the way through".

But what do I know?


JLE

[malice]

There, the hat is gone, from Tomte to Comte.


Dave is the man.

Dave is the best, I concur.


It's just, two times today I've been subjected to talk of Mixerman's ass, somehow related to Malice. Uh... The real problem is I came home from the studio last night to my wife and her two girlfriends talking about stuff that guys aren't supposed to hear. Now this...


Ahem, Comte ...

malice

[volthause]

I have to confess I never understand when people want files at 48K sample rate, to end up on a 44.1K medium. Yes, I know it can be dealt with, but all that strikes me as an ugly kludge that would be better avoided.

I guess I can see the point here, but everything was tracked at 48kHz and 24bit, so the addage "it's WAY too fucking late to worry about that now" really comes into play here.


With all the attention people give to the phenomenon of mastering as a process of sprinkling of magic sonic fairy dust, I think it's easy for people to just forget about what I always figured was the actual proper subject of CD mastering. Assembling the whole thing along a timeline on a master disc with indexing and stuff. Maybe I'm a complete oddball, but I see that stuff as what a CD mastering engineer should be doing, not "hand it over to the guy who runs it through the sonic wringer to keep the meters hanging at 0dB all the way through".


I agree, and I guess I didn't make it clear that the OBVIOUS things (such as song order, pacing, fades and such) were already going to get conveyed to the guy when I hand it off.

I was wondering more about the finer parts of what he's going to like to see in the package.

[archtop]

Cookies would be nice.

[Comte de St Germain]

It's not like it used to be.

Tones aren't really required anymore.

Bias? What's bias?

[Trazan]

If there are track levels etc that you are really unsure about, especially how they might change in the mastering process, you might send off a couple of alternative mixes. Just let the ME know of the alternatives that he could reach for if he has problems in the department you were unsure about. Don't ask him to chose from several mixes, that's really not his job.

The most common variant is probably to send off vocal +1dB/-1dB (or 0.5 or whatever) mixes in addition to the main one. That might not apply to your album though, you should rather do a heavily distorted guitars -5dB alternative? :Razz:

[dikledoux]

I guess I can see the point here, but everything was tracked at 48kHz and 24bit, so the addage "it's WAY too fucking late to worry about that now" really comes into play here.
So your guy was right to ask for 48k and 24 bit cuz he's probably got better tools to deal with downsampling to 44.1 - that being part of the "properly preparing the material for reproduction" part of his gig.

One other thing to mention to the guy (if you can accomodate this possibility) is that if he hears a problem that he thinks would be better fixed in mix stage to let you know. That way he's not applying corrections/enhancements he doesn't need to so he can focus on overall sound issues, and you'll get some helpful info about what you're doing in the mixing stage. You both win.

dik

[Fulcrum]

I guess I didn't make it clear that the OBVIOUS things (such as song order, pacing, fades and such) were already going to get conveyed to the guy when I hand it off.

I was wondering more about the finer parts of what he's going to like to see in the package.

My best guess is that you've covered everything. You may already have done this, but if he's got a web site and has an FAQ or Tips page, double-check against that to make certain you've included everything he's expecting.

[volthause]

The most common variant is probably to send off vocal +1dB/-1dB (or 0.5 or whatever) mixes in addition to the main one. That might not apply to your album though, you should rather do a heavily distorted guitars -5dB alternative? :Razz:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Nice one man. + rep for that!

[volthause]

One other thing to mention to the guy (if you can accomodate this possibility) is that if he hears a problem that he thinks would be better fixed in mix stage to let you know. That way he's not applying corrections/enhancements he doesn't need to so he can focus on overall sound issues, and you'll get some helpful info about what you're doing in the mixing stage. You both win.

dik

Cool idea. I'll definitely do that.