In our mastering studios, we hear a lot of music and a lot of new music tracks coming our way. Quite a few music artists and producers understand precisely how to prepare their mix for mastering, but on the flip side, a lot of the files we have seen coming in aren't bounced down correctly for the mastering process. The key difficulties we see can be 1) the mixdown had been exported at too high a level, and there's no headroom to work with, and the sound clips; 2) the track's producer used a mastering plug-in on the export, and the song has already been mastered, after a fashion; and/or 3) the vocals are distorted or are not sounding good.
Whenever a file gets mixed and exported with levels peaking, the result is that there isn't any difference in regards to the louder portions and the areas that are designed to be softer. The reason is that in modern digital music production, there is a limit to how loud a track can be, we call this the zero attenuation point which roughly corresponds to the 'red line' max level on the output slider. When the song is mixed the right way, the output mix won't ever go beyond or perhaps even near the zero att. point. But what we often see is the whole output file in contact with and in fact attempting to seek above the zero line. In such a case, all of the softer sections of the audio will be pushed practically as loud as the zero level, and all the louder areas might have crossed the zero level, except that they are "clipped" by the fact that the sound can not be higher than the zero level. As a result all the louder highs are cut off and "clipped" by the zero point while the softer parts are forced almost directly to the zero point. The result is a marked absence of dynamic variance between what are supposed to be louder and softer peaks and valleys throughout the music, that should have shown more dynamic difference but were thwarted a result of the clipping process. And in most situations, the actual clipping translates to distortions and aliasing which were not existing in the track when initially produced.
In the same way, in the event a producer or self-produced musician utilizes a mastering plug-in on the whole entire track, this actually also eradicates any form of distinction between the higher peaks and the softer valleys of the sound track file. Whilst usually this kind of plug-in isn't going to allow the sound to clip beyond the zero level, nevertheless it compresses the track into a dynamic range that takes away this so-called headroom from the track, as well as almost always makes it difficult for all of us as mastering technicians to accomplish anything productive with the dynamic range that remains. For that reason, in the event you will be going to have your song professionally mastered, it is vital that you don't use a mastering plug-in if you are outputting your mix. The plug-in itself might be nice and sound great and provide some sort of mastering, but the simple truth is a mastering expert can achieve a great deal more with your mix as compared to a mastering plug-in. And so, you should make a choice: mastering plug-in, or mastering engineer? not both.
Yet another more common obstacle we observe with song files coming at the facility might be a track with badly recorded or distorted voice tracks over an instrumental track. Truth be told, quite a few self-produced producers have got the same obstacle. The best way to remedy this is, before anything else, purchase a decent mike. There are numerous kinds of microphones you can order online that a person can easily buy for under 2 hundred dollars -- generally imported emulations of high-end mics, that function effectively and sound great. Do yourself a favor and buy one of these mics. Next, you need to test out the microphone input levels until eventually you've identified that "sweet spot" wherein you get a strong signal arriving with absolutely no distortion. Once you've located this place using a fairly good microphone, that's the tougher half of the struggle. And the second 50 percent will be supplying a strong performance, which is up to the performer.
In conclusion, the very best practices to adhere to to prep your mixdown for professional cd mastering tend to be: 1) ensure that your mixdown will not be maxing out at the zero point or clipping; 2) eliminate any kind of mastering plug-ins you might have on your output mix; and 3) be sure you work with a good quality microphone and be sure the input amounts are set appropriately for fresh rendition of your vocals.
