Stereo mastering is the final process before a song is released to the public. This is where levels are balanced, frequencies receive finishing touches, and any other problems with the mix are ironed-out. Files submitted for mastering should be in the highest resolution available, and generally in .WAV or .AIF format.
Additionally, for the best possible masters, we recommend removing any pre-mastering processing such as limiting, and keeping the highest peak-level of each song at -1dB or less. This allow us enough headroom to best sculpt the dynamics and over-all sound of your songs. Finished songs are delivered as downloadable Standard WAV files.
"If you need a pair of fresh ears during the mixing stage: I'm more than willing to listen to your mixes and send you feedback."
Stereo Mastering
PReparing your mix (checklist)
1) Ideally leave -6dB's from the 0 dBFS ceiling when printing mixes to stereo.
2) Do not use any leveling tools like limiters or normalizers on the stereo bus, unless they are a vital part of the sound.
3) Never change the sample rate (kHz) of the files.
4) Print, render or bounce your tracks as 24-bit floating point data files (wav or aif), 16-bit or mp3 files are not suited for mastering!
5) Don't use any noise shaping, and dither only triangular if necessary.
Send it!
