Preparing Your Tracks for Professional Mastering
Mastering is the final, crucial step in audio post-production. It's the bridge between your final mix and the finished product that will be released to the world. A mastering engineer applies a fresh set of ears and specialized tools to enhance the overall sound, ensuring it's optimized for playback across all systems and formats.
To get the best possible results from the mastering process, it's essential to deliver your files correctly. This guide will walk you through the key steps to prepare your tracks perfectly. Use the navigation below to explore each step of the process.
The quality of the file you send to the mastering engineer directly impacts the quality of the final master. Here are the key parameters to get right during export.
Export your track as a high-quality, lossless stereo interleaved file. These formats preserve all the audio data from your mix.
Lossy formats use data compression that discards audio information, which cannot be recovered. Do not send these for mastering.
Export using the same settings as your project session. Do not convert or upsample these values; the mastering engineer will handle any necessary conversions.
Bit Depth
24-bit
(or 32-bit float)
Sample Rate
Match Session
(e.g., 44.1kHz, 48kHz)
Headroom is the space between the loudest peak in your track and the absolute maximum level (0 dBFS). Providing a file with adequate headroom is critical. Aim for your loudest peaks to hit between -6 dBFS and -3 dBFS.
This "empty space" gives the mastering engineer the room they need to apply their processing (EQ, compression, etc.) without causing unwanted clipping or distortion. To achieve this, simply turn down your master fader. Do not use a limiter.
Peak Level Visualizer
Your mix should sound great on its own. Before exporting, remove all plugins from your master bus (stereo out). This allows the mastering engineer maximum flexibility.
If you have processing (like a "glue" compressor) that is essential to the sound of your mix, you can provide two versions: one with the processing and one without. Always discuss this with your mastering engineer first.
Ensure there is a small amount of silence at the very beginning ("top") and end ("tail") of your audio file. This prevents any audio from being accidentally cut off.
Leave at least one or two seconds of silence before the music starts. This ensures that no initial transients (like the hit of a kick drum) are missed.
Let the track fade out completely. Do not cut it off abruptly. Make sure any reverb or delay tails have finished entirely before the file ends.
Mastering enhances a great mix; it cannot fix a poor one. Before exporting, ensure you are 100% happy with your mix's balance, dynamics, and frequency spectrum.
A balanced mix has a smooth distribution of energy across the low, mid, and high frequencies. Use the visualizer below to understand how different mix balances might look on a spectrum analyzer.
Mix Balance Visualizer
Dithering is a type of noise added intentionally when reducing the bit depth of a file (e.g., going from 24-bit to 16-bit). This is the very last step of the mastering chain and should be handled by the mastering engineer.
When you export your 24-bit or 32-bit file for mastering, ensure that dithering is turned off in your DAW's export settings.
Clear file names prevent confusion and save time for everyone involved. Use a consistent format to keep your project organized, especially when mastering an entire album or EP.
TheBand - MySong Premaster_V1.wav
Use this interactive checklist to ensure you've covered all the bases before sending your files.