Before You Master Your Song, Check These 3 Things

Mastering is the final stage in producing a song.

But to get the best results from mastering, it’s essential that your mixes are ready to be mastered.

Here are three things every mix should have in order before mastering:

1. No clipping
   It’s essential that your main channel, or any other channels in your mix, are not clipping.
2. Headroom
   In fact, not only should things not be clipping, but you should also have some headroom on your master fader. Ensure your master fader is peaking no higher than about -3 dB.
3. You should be happy with the mix
   Mastering isn’t there to try and make a bad mix sound good — it’s about enhancing something that’s already great and making it consistent with the other tracks on a release.

Getting these three aspects of your mix right will give you the very best chance of creating great-sounding masters.

Make sure these 3 things are in place before you master your next song.

Best wishes, Alex.