Audio Recording

Supposing you would like someone to mix your projects or master your mixdown; how would you able to ensure that you are sending them correctly the files? I often received a lot of mistakes on the way clients send to me their projects for mixing or mastering. So I decided to write down this tutorial regarding some guidelines on how to deliver the audio files properly for mixing and mastering. This can be applicable to any mixing and mastering engineer whether they are based in an A-class recording facility or in a home studio. This tutorial will emphasize delivery of audio files online and not using the traditional mail/express package delivery. Delivering audio files online has some advantages in terms of lower cost compared to other delivery methods.

Preparing Audio Files for Submission to the Audio Mixing Engineer

A mixing project is a very complicated one. It is because it involves a lot of individual recording tracks (guitars, drums, vocals, etc). And what makes it more complicated is that the mixing of these tracks might be performed in a different DAW software than it was recorded. The job of the mixing engineer is to combine all of these recording tracks into a two-channel stereo mixdown ready for mastering. Below are the guidelines that you should follow:

1.) Track everything to zero (which means start all tracks with reference to zero second). This will ensure that all tracks will be aligned when loaded to the mixing engineer DAW which might not be the same as the one you are using during the recording session. You can read this tutorial on exporting a multitrack sesssion to any DAW: . It shows some illustration on how to implement “track to zero” approach. Supposing you are recording your tracks using Audacity, and you have three tracks recorded: bass (track 1) , lead vocals( track 2) and background vocals( track 3). To track all of these starting at zero, you can simply add “silence” before the track starts (this can be done easily using any DAW). You can see a screenshot below:

As you can see, lead vocal and background vocal tracks did not start from the beginning. But by adding silence before the track starts, you can make the track starts to zero just like the screenshot above. The mixing engineer will load up all tracks in his/her own DAW and the tracks alignment will be maintained because of this method. Failure to do this can lead to timing problems with the tracks during mixing.

2.) Do not apply any effects to the recorded tracks. Leave everything to the mixing engineer. Make sure all of the tracks that you are submitting for mixing does NOT contain any effects that includes EQ, compression, reverb that are applied directly to the audio wave. Make the audio file as dry and untouched as possible (raw recording). If you already started doing some mix on your own DAW and start applying effects, make sure those effects are not applied to the audio files you are submitting. You will not be sending those effects to your mixing engineer. The mixing engineer will have his/her own effects that can be applied to your project.

3.) Submit tracks in mono using highest recording resolution as possible such as 24-bit/96Khz. Even free recording software such as Audacity will allow you to record at 24-bit/96Khz in mono.

4.) PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT MP3! This is a very common mistake. It is because some clients compress the WAV files into MP3 so that it will become lighter – a very big mistake. Make sure that all audio files are in WAV format: 24-bit/96Khz mono WAV file -uncompressed.

5.) Name the audio files accurately so that the mixing engineer will not be guessing those files. You can name it as follows: leadvocal.wav, bass.wav, backgroundvocals1.wav, backgroundvocals2.wav, snare.wav, kick.wav, cymbals.wav,etc.

6.) Do a screenshot of the assembled tracks in your own DAW and save it as assembledtracks.jpg.The mixing engineer will use this screenshot to confirm if the tracks are also re-assembled properly in his/her own DAW.

7.) Create a folder and named it as “mixingproject”. Then put all of your WAV files inside this folder including the screenshot. You can as well include a text file containing some additional instructions if you like.

8.) Finally once all the files that you need to submit are inside the folder, compress them as zip file. You can use Winrar or Winzip. The resulting filename will be mixingproject.zip. This is a compressed packaged with reduced file size making it very easy to transport online.

9.) Even when its zipped, chances are the file size can still be very big. It cannot be sent through most email providers such as Gmail or Yahoo. The following are the recommendations:

a.) You can use YouSendIt. It offers some convenient methods of sending heavy files for free. You can sign up here:

https://www.yousendit.com/

b.) Or if you own a website and a hosting, you can upload this zip file online and then send a link to the mixing engineer to download it.

Preparing Audio Files for Submission to the Mastering Facility

For tracks scheduled for mastering, the source file is stereo mixdown completed by the mixing engineer. This is just a single file in 24-bit/96Khz stereo WAV format (also known as the “raw mixdown”). After mixing, your mixing engineer will provide this file to you either through YouSendIt or any other online methods. Finally once you have approved the mix and you would like to submit it to mastering engineer. You can refer to this tutorial on how to prepare and submit mix for audio CD mastering. The same rule applies, you will not be applying any effects to the mixdown that includes reverb, compression , EQ, etc. Leave it to the mastering engineer.