actually, probably the best thing to do if you are going to be present during mastering is to bring in your computer and they can take your mix direct from your daw without any bus summing at all... you have to talk to your mastering engineer about it first though

I've been told by a few mastering engineers that minidiscs can be a little problematic. Burn your songs as 24 bit wav or aiff files to a good CDR as a DATA disc...not a typical audio CD. At least that is what I was told to do.

Thanks a lot 4 answers.
if im going to take my computer to mastering engs in this case i wont need my ssl aws900 to make my sound better.I can mix with icon as well (in the box)and then take it to master.so i have 2 important toys 4 my music. aws900 and icon.which one u succest 4 best mix befor master u guys?

maybe i dont own this toys yet but the confusion :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :x :x :x :x :x :? :? :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

You can mix through the SSL and just go back into another stereo channel. Assuming the mixer is part of "the sound" you don't want to miss out on it.

I'd say your best bet would be 24-bit PCM. Stay away from MD (very lossy compression) and 16-bit DAT if you can.

You can hardly go wrong with 24-bit PCM (wav, aiff, etc.) files though - Every M.E. accepts them, they're easy to work with, they sound good.

The "big changes in sound" phrase is a bit troubling though... You want your mixes to sound as good as possible during the mix phase. Mastering is meant to be the polish on the car, not the bodywork.

The hard part for me is getting my mix to sound they way I like it without going overboard. There is that fine line between compression, and squashing the hell out of something descructively. Same goes with reverb....eventually I'll get it right.

An M.E. recently told me that I should bring in my data files for mastering, but also a disc with a bunch of stem mixes. Meaning that I should mix my song the way I want it then mix down the drums to a stereo wav file. Then my guitars, then my vocals...etc. This way he has all of these files separated and if my kick is sounding tubby he can pull up just the drum mix and fix it there. Or if the guitars are too bitey he can fix them at the source without damaging anything around it including vocals, snare, etc. Does that make sense?

Any other ME's go this route?

well Arthur i agree with your information about mastering...in India most studios are using pro tools based system..TDM... normally if any stuff goes to their studio from Pakistan or Dubai or any other place...they say give us your complete mix for master..as well as.. a mix project having two track drum mix, separete main vocals, two track chorus and harmonies, guitars, and lead instruments....all two track mixes..so that if they need to do some eqs from their side it will be possible...i think its a good and positive approach... i don't think its harmfull at all... specially if some goes out of country or far for the Mastering obviously he won't take chances at least he should do this for the safe side..... Xaivier, john...wht you say guys

Arthur,

I leave it up to the artist/producer/label as to what type of source they want me to work from. I've been given stems to work with before, but it hasn't been the norm. Nearly everything I get comes in as stereo (split or interleaved doens't matter) pcm on cdr, dvd, or through the internet via ftp.

When I do get stems, it sometimes requires a bit of restraint on my part to keep from playing the role of mixing engineer, if you know what I mean. When you create the stems, make sure they give you the same mix when loaded in a session at zero across the board as your regular 2-mix.

Cheers,
Chris

Chris you are quite rite at certain point.. the situation of like giving two tracks of different mixes is a rae case...obviously not the majority asks for....and offcourse you are quite rite in case that if M.E really has to adjust your two tracks of different parts of the song then whts the Mixing and Mastering Engineers for...

The best format for delivering your mixes digitally is 24bit/and whatever sampling rate you have handy or can handle. 1/2" and 1/4" are still going strong and I think they sound better. anything other than these 3 options is inferior. Stem mixing is dangerous and ugly. I don't like to get them. I will sometimes and only instrumental and vocals. no more. unless you want your mix remixed by the ME. It doesn't work for me and i'd rather not do it that way.

Don't over push your mix for the sake of volume. Use your volume pot to turn it up. If the mix needs to be loud, the ME can do it. Over pushing your mix is next to impossible to undo during mastering. It's better to error on the lesser side and push it during mastering.

yeah, to loud mixes are a right nightmare, just got a recording from a guitar HC band the whole lot over compressed during recording and far to loud, a real nightmare and shit work from the recording engineer.

be easy on the levels and give some head room to the ME, it's his job to push levels if needed. rather concentrate on the balance of the whole recording.

Made me very hapy u guys..... thanks again.
Which are the main tools for mastering? What do they have we recording and mixing people dont have? Is it easy to buy the tools and learn mastering? if its just polishing? wy do we say they are the masters and its an art? so wy dont we call them cleaners? who is the master here? My music sounds great in my room but in the car its terrible. i want to keep the feeling of my room sound while sorting the car sound.Is it possible?or will i need real masters (mastering people) here?

easy now!

If English is not your first language, then perhaps you are taking the wrong meaning of "master." In this case, it simply means "the original object from which other copies are made." It doesn't mean that you are sending your music to a "master of audio" (although he/she may well be). They are just making your mix sound as good as it can for a variety of speaker systems (like your car), before you send it off to duplication/replication.

Yes it is fairly easy to buy the tools needed to do it (if you have a bunch of extra money lying around), but the difficulty is developing your ears enough to use the tools effectively.

I think the "masters" here will agree.

in my country mixing and mastering people always fight. beetween this fights i couldnt learn any thing.they hate teaching.this form is cool.