What is mastering, how to deliver your project, and mastering workflow
What is mastering?
In the current high-turnover, streaming-focused environment, where more and more bedroom productions and mixes are being released, it is understandable that many mixes are not going to arrive within the typical standards that might be floating around the internet for “how loud your mix should be before being sent to mastering.” Additionally there is much confusion and conflicting ideas about what mastering actually is, and how loudness factors into this. This means that expectation-setting for what mastering can actually accomplish is often inconsistent.
I will not seek to spin you with a sales pitch about what I can miraculously do via mastering, and will simply tell you this: More often than not, your master will only be as good as your mix allows it to be. Very rarely can a bad mix be “fixed in mastering.” Mastering is meant to be a final balance, enhancement, and check on the translatability of the source material with broad-stroke applications; unlike mixing, which is more about the details.
Because of this, I take a consultative approach to mastering, and will let you or your mix engineer know if there is something about the mix that is holding back the quality of the final master and its ability to cleanly reach the desired loudness.
I’ve outlined a few things to keep in mind below, before signing off on a final mix. These can help hold people accountable, and ensure the best final product:
Loudness is not just about what meters say. There is a difference between perceived loudness (how loud we hear something as), and measured loudness (what the meters actually say)
For instance, a kick can read -6dB on a meter, but barely be audible in a mix. A different kick, can show the exact same -6dB peak level, but sound twice as loud to your ears. This is because that second kick has a different frequency dispersion, leaning more toward the audible frequency spectrum, which allows our ears to hear it better in a busy mix. The other kick may have too much inaudible low end energy eating up the headroom, and not enough mid range energy, which our ears are more attuned to. So, interestingly enough, good sound selection in production can have just as great an impact on how loud a master can be as mixing can.
Taking this a step further, if your final mix is displaying at say 0dB RMS on the meter, but you have to turn your device all the way up to hear it well, and it’s nowhere near as loud as other commercially released songs; there won’t be much room for the mastering engineer to make it loud enough without sacrificing low end and overall sound quality.
A quieter mix is fine to a certain extent, but it’s good to understand whether it’s actually quiet, or just perceived as quiet, due to frequency balance issues, masking, etc. Focusing on perceived loudness and proper gain staging practices in the production, recording and mixing stages, is the key to a great sounding, loud master.
How to deliver your project
I offer stereo mastering services for songs, albums, and other stereo-format projects, like podcasts, vlogs, etc. Currently, I do not offer mastering for multichannel formats like 5.1/7.1/Atmos.
Files should be sent as WAVE, 24 bit or 32 bit, and up to 96khz (Send it at the sample rate it was mixed at preferably). The file must be the final stereo mix, and alternate mix versions are acceptable. I do not offer stem mastering, and in the event I receive multiple stems for mastering, that will be considered a mixing service.
Workflow
I do not ask for an arbitrary amount of headroom like -6dB RMS level, but as alluded to above, the more quiet a mix sounds, the more headroom will be needed to ensure it can get loud enough. I will happily work on a -1dB true peak mix that has a good perceived loudness as it’s starting point. Professional mix engineers will get this, but this is often where novice engineers have the most trouble. In short, don’t send a quiet-sounding 0dB headroom mix, and expect it to get much louder without some distortion and low end sacrifice.
If you have any specific needs/wants for adhering to platform-dependent loudness standards, please let me know, and I will take this into account, and can provide platform-specific alternate masters.
I do not cap the number of revisions (within reason) and will gladly accept new mixes if it is decided that something needs to be fixed in the mix to allow for a better master. I will happily offer mix feedback prior to a master as well!