Should I leave a limiter on my stereo bus before sending for mastering?

No. Always bypass your stereo bus limiter before exporting. The mastering engineer needs to hear the mix as it is, not what it sounds like pushed through a limiter.

What file format should I export for mastering?

Export at 24-bit, 44.1kHz minimum. Higher sample rates are fine if that's what your session is running at. Do not export as MP3 for mastering.

What if my mix is clipping?

Distortion baked into the audio cannot be fixed at the mastering stage. Check every individual channel for clipping and fix it in the mix before you export. Once distortion is in the file, it is permanent.

How much headroom should I leave before mastering?

Enough that the mastering engineer needs to turn it up roughly 10dB. That gives plenty of room to work without the master starting from an already-squashed position.

Can mastering fix a bad mix?

Mastering handles broad strokes — overall tonal balance, loudness, clarity. Specific mix problems, like an element that is buried or fighting with another, need to be fixed in the mix first. If it sounds off in your mix, it will sound more off after mastering.

What is the most important thing to check before sending a track for mastering?

That there is no distortion anywhere in the mix. Take the limiter off your stereo bus, export at 24-bit, and check that nothing is clipping — on individual channels as well as the mix bus. Everything else can be worked with. Distortion cannot.

How to Prepare Your Track for Mastering

The single biggest thing you can do is leave headroom. Your stereo bus should have some space to breathe. If your mix is peaking at -1dB with a limiter slammed on, I've got nowhere to go. Give me a clean, dynamic mix with room at the top and I can do a lot more with it.

Take the limiter off. If you're using a limiter or maximiser on your stereo bus, bypass it before you export. I need to hear the mix as it is, not what it sounds like pushed hard. Send me the real thing.

Distortion is the one thing I can't fix

If your mix is clipping, if elements are distorting, that's baked in. It's there forever. I can work with a loud premaster. Turn it down, no problem. But if the distortion is in the audio itself, there's nothing I can do. You'll need to go back to the session and sort it before we proceed.

Hammered dynamics are harder to work with

If you've over-compressed your mix to the point where the life has been squeezed out, a master will only make that more obvious. I can often recover some of that. But the further you've pushed it, the less there is to work with. Don't make my job harder than it needs to be.

Low end

Too little is harder to deal with than too much. If your mix has no weight below 80Hz, I can't add what isn't there. I can shape and sculpt what's already in the track. I can't manufacture it from nothing.

Hi-end balance

The most common issue I see is a mix with almost no hi-end, except one hat that's miles louder than everything else. That puts me in a difficult position. To bring the rest of the top end up, I have to pull the hat back and keep chasing that balance. It's a constant battle. If your hi-end is balanced before it arrives, the session will go smoother.

Before you send

If something sounds off in your mix, it will sound more off after mastering. Sort it first.

—Bypass your stereo bus limiter
—Export at 24-bit, 44.1kHz minimum
—Check for clipping on individual channels, not just the mix bus
—Make sure there's some weight in your low end
—Check your hi-end balance on headphones

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