sending music to be mastered

[mjames08]

often I compress my final mixes to make them louder and punchier, but should I do this before sending my mix out for mastering?

[finalcut]

Get it as close as you can to being what you consider a finished project, and then send it out. Just make sure that you don't compress all of the dynamics out of it.

[Bastiaan]

Why don't you give the masteringhouse a call? Or just take a compressed and an uncompressed version with you.

It also depends on what compressor you used. If it is a good one, or if you really like the way it sounds....leave it on. If you want to see what they do with it....remove it.

[ReniuR]

I can tell you right now that any good mastering engineer will prefer you to send your final bounces with NO eq or compression on the master. This allows them to have more control and end up with better results. Keep in mind, mastering equipment is of much higher quality than typical studio equipment.

[BigRedButton]

I agree completely with ReniuR. Let the mastering engineer do the job you're paying him for. Most of the time if a client sends a mastering engineer a "light mastered" version of the final mixes, he ends up spending time (and your money) on correcting what treatments have been applied.

[APAULOS]

Please do not put anything on the master fader. No Q, no Compressor, no "stereo enhancer"...nothing.

[mjames08]

Originally posted by BigRedButton:
I agree completely with ReniuR. Let the mastering engineer do the job you're paying him for. Most of the time if a client sends a mastering engineer a "light mastered" version of the final mixes, he ends up spending time (and your money) on correcting what treatments have been applied.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">This is what I figured.. Thanks for the replies everyone.. Oh, and does anyone want to do a little mastering [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]