5.4 Pre-Mastering
Basically, we are looking here at what changes you might wish to make to your Master to bring your mix to its best possible standard before mastering.
Kind: concept (reamix-section) Chapter: 5 Cooking the Mix Source: ReaMix (October 2009)
Basically, we are looking here at what changes you might wish to make to your Master to bring your mix to its best possible standard before mastering. There is one golden rule that applies here. If in doubt, don’t! Any mastering engineer will tell you that they will prefer to work with a mix that is slightly underdone rather than one that is overdone. You should avoid the use of mastering plug-ins such as Linear Phase EQ, Multiband Compressors, Digital Detailers, Dynamizers and Mastering Limiters. Also stay away from mastering software suites such as T-Racks and Ozone – unless, of course, you are doing your mastering yourself.
Remember always that anything you do to the Master will apply to your whole mix. Don’t use this to correct flaws within the mix itself. For example, if your instruments sound muddy, go back and revisit how you have handled the instruments. As far as possible, you should always correct problems at their source.
That said, here are some issues that you might wish to consider when working with your project’s track master. Before you try any of them, read the advice offered in Section 5.4.5!