Recording and mixing a track is not enough. To reach the finish line, it is important to spare and master the track. Mastering is music production’s crucial part, yet it could be misunderstood. It would bring the little earpieces as well as nuances that you placed in the track to life.
Tips to Prepare the Song for Mastering
In order to prepare the song for mastering, you need to take care of certain things. The list of steps to prepare mix include
- Referencing
Referencing the mix is one of the crucial things to do. Listening to the previous mixes of songs or mixes of other songs in the library would provide you clarity on what you could improve in your mix. It is advised to reference the track in the different environments and play songson laptop speakers, different rooms in the house, in the car, and different sound systems. Doing so would help you decide if the mix is ready for mastering.
- Polish the Track
It is important to go through every clip in DAW and ensure everything is the way you wish it to sound. Be meticulous in cutting the extra noise. Apply the short fade to every audio clip for smooth transitions.
- Headroom
Headroom refers to the amount of space the audio has before clipping. Leaving headroom to provide enough to work with track and bring up the volume through compression.
- Quality Exporting
Selecting the best export format could impact your mix’s audio quality. Ensure you select the sample rate, file type, and bit depth wisely.
Apart from these, ensure you leave some space at starting and end. Leaving space at starting and end would ensure that you do not trim the important part be it at the beginning or end of your track. In case you are still unsure, you can refer to mastering tutorials and expand the mixing as well as mastering skills.
