Mastering FAQ

Mastering is:
Preparing music for release – with tonal balance adjustments, song sequencing, and file organization.

Basically, making your mixes sound as good as possible and readying the album for release.

Deadlines:
If you are on a deadline, please let me know in advance. (Remember: for self-released music, plan to upload masters 4+ weeks before your planned release date)

Please Provide

The Songs
File sharing via Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar is great. Finished mixes should be full-res audio files: WAV or AIFF (not mp3).

Artist, Album, & Song Names, and Sequence
Please ensure spelling, case, and punctuation is as you would like it to appear. For sided media, the A / B division point should split the album as evenly as possible.

Notes (optional)
Notes are always helpful. Please let me know if you think the mixes are (nearly) perfect, or missing something.

A standard pause between songs is about 2 seconds. Please include instructions for any non-standard pauses or crossfades.

Tech Details

Meta Data
Album credits can’t be encoded in WAV files. With digital distribution, album credits should be supplied to the distributor when the masters are uploaded.

However, limited meta data can be encoded with an audio CD. I always specify: artist, album, and song names; but I can also include ISBN, and a cover image, upon request.

Bit Depth & Sample Rate
Mixes should be exported at the same resolution as the session, regardless of DAW. Usually bit depth is 24bit, and sample rate is 44.1k, 48k, 88.2k, or 96k.

Output Level & Mix Bus
Bypass any limiter, loudness, or “mastering” plugins. Really it’s good to avoid using any effects here, but there are always exceptions.

Ideally, mixes should peak around -6dBFS (6dB below the red light). If your mixes are clipping, turn down.

“It’s wrong on purpose…”
I’m happy to work with heavy distortion, avant-garde sounds, and/or mixes that push the boundaries of conventional wisdom. Let me know what your vision is for the project and we’ll figure it out.