In order to obtain the best possible quality from audio mastering, you need to start with a good recording. Here are some hints for preparing your recording or mix.
Don't over-compress!
Please remove or at least reduce any master output compression/limiting/maximizing effects intended simply to boost the volume of your mixdowns. It seems everyone these days wants to make their sound louder and louder so they put as much compression as possible on the master output. Once you've done this, there's nothing we can do in mastering to undo the compression side-effects. If you resist the urge to make it as loud as you can get it and let your mastering facility adjust your final track volumes then we can make it loud enough in a way that avoids the bad side-effects of strong master output compression and keeps more of a sense of natural dynamics and punchiness. True artists know that "loud music" does not necessarily equal "good music". Concentrate on making a good, solid, clean mix and let us set the final track volume during mastering. Don't worry - we'll make sure your final volumes are consistent with the industry standard levels for your genre.
Watch for clipping
During recording AND mixing take the extra time to set proper gain without overdriving your recording system's maximum levels. Also, be sure your final stereo audio mixdown isn't clipping. If you're unsure, set the overall levels so the maximum peaks are between -1dB and -3dB at most when creating your two-channel audio tracks. We'll maximize the volume levels appropriately in the mastering process so don't worry if it comes out a little quieter doing this.
Don't overdo reverb and other effects
Reverb and other similar effects are nice for "smoothing out" some of the rough edges in your songs, but they also can make your songs sound muddy and the mastering process cannot completely undo excessive muddiness. When in doubt, lean toward cleaner and drier sounds versus more reverb. You can always request more fuller, deeper sound in the note pages included with the CD mastering order form and we'll be happy to add a little of this effect in for you.
Get rid of noise
The less hiss/hum/background noise we have to eliminate in the mastering process, the cleaner, fuller, and brighter your songs will be. Watch open mics during recording. Are fans running in the background? Are there flourescent lights on? Planes, trains, cars, trucks running outside? Computer fans? Amps not grounded properly? Using correct cables and correct gain settings? Consider using noise gates and/or noise filtering on each track in a song. This will limit the total amount of noise in your final mix giving you a cleaner, stronger song for mastering.
Fade your dubs and clips
Don't use mute or other sudden on/off in your mixes! If dubs or clips turn on and off suddenly within your song, there will more than likely be an audible click. It may be quiet in your version, but the mastered version is often much louder. We can certainly remove or reduce most clicks in the mastering process, but why take chances?!? Make it clean right from the start!
Have you followed all these hints to the best of your ability, but you're unsure about whether or not your mix is good enough?
If you've done the best you can with your mixes, but you're still not 100% confident that it's as good as it can be and ready for mastering we have a solution for you. In these cases we highly recommend that you submit one of your tracks for free sample mastering to hear for yourself an example of the final outcome as mastered by Crazy Daisy Productions. In most cases (90% or more of the time), people hear the mastering sample and find that they are quite happy with the results from mastering and now have confirmation that their mix is ready. On occasion someone hears the sample mastering results and reads our feedback that accompany the sample and realize that their mixes still need some work. Often we will note the mix adjustments that are needed when we return the free mastering sample and these may be things you can easily attend to yourself. If, however, you find that the mix recommendations we've made are either beyond your skill level or if you simply wish to have a new set of ears attend to your mixes, we offer two different levels of mixing services to accompany mastering services that may be of assistance. If you feel this may fit your situation, you can find out more details at our mixing options web page.