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Hey,

i have a track I have just pulled together, id love to send it out as a demo but im afraid I can't get around the mastering side of things. Does it matter when sending out a demo? i think it would.

Is it better to wait and let the recording companies deal with the mastering before putting it to wax? And what stages should it be by then? Should it have been slightly compressed or just left with the basic sounds?

Sorry making this a large thread, but what should I do if i need to master? what comes first?

cheers, I hope this thread answers a few people's questions, or maybe its just me :S

Not that I have had any experience in getting my tunes released...
as far as Im aware the lable will do everything for you mastering wise.
Just get your mixdown sounding as good as it can possibly be
.. leaving a certain amount of headroom for the mastering engineer to work with.

Leave out any mastering effects from the master bus.

you could add some compression to individual sounds etc...
but be cautious doing this. Not essential if the eqing and levels are tight and balanced.

If you wanna master yourself - check the production bible sticky.


....but I know where you're coming from... I too would be interested to know what some producers have gone through with their beats once they have been signed.. mastering and mixdowns always seem to be the flavour of the month in any production forum.

dip_registered wrote:Hey,

i have a track I have just pulled together, id love to send it out as a demo but im afraid I can't get around the mastering side of things. Does it matter when sending out a demo? i think it would.

Is it better to wait and let the recording companies deal with the mastering before putting it to wax? And what stages should it be by then? Should it have been slightly compressed or just left with the basic sounds?

Sorry making this a large thread, but what should I do if i need to master? what comes first?

cheers, I hope this thread answers a few people's questions, or maybe its just me :S

You would be best concentrating on getting a good mixdown rather than worrying about whacking compressers, limiters eq's etc on the master. Don't worry too much about the volume dj's have gain knobs.

Mastering is normally done by labels before the record is pressed

Producer->label->mastering House-> Cutting house



A good mixdown always comes first

forensix (mcr) wrote:
Mastering is normally done by labels before the record is pressed

Producer->label->mastering House-> Cutting house



A good mixdown always comes first

Yeah thats exactly what I thought, so it is a good idea to send a demo out with the unmastered version?

dip_registered wrote:
Yeah thats exactly what I thought, so it is a good idea to send a demo out with the unmastered version?

yeah

get a really good, responsible level (-6) mixdown.

keep that as the one you'll eventually send to the mastering house. to send out to dj's, if you're comfortable w/ it, do a quick home master before you email it out-- you'll get a better, or just faster, response if its got similar sonics to records/dubs a dj's gonna play.

if your mixdown sounds good, all a mastering engineer will do is control the eq's and the dynamics. you can fake that at home. just listen and compare to released tunes.