How to Prepare and Submit the Mix to Audio CD Mastering Studio
The following are the important requirements that a mixing engineer should do before submitting any mix to mastering facilities for audio CD or track mastering. These are a sort of check list to make sure that your mix is ready for mastering.
Check List #1: Is your mix final? Has it already been approved by the concerned artists and recording producers?
Purpose: If you create a mixdown, the final approval is done by the artist and the recording producers. You need to make sure that there is no other request for changes from them in the mix, it is because once the material will reach the mastering studio, there is no turning back. If you turn back, you need to do a separate mixdown again with the artist/producer requested changes that can take time and destroy your schedule.
Check List #2: You SHOULD mix down to highest audio resolution as possible.
Purpose: You need to create a very high quality mix, isn’t it? If you mixdown to low resolution such as 16 bit 44.1Khz (by applying dithering for example), you are destroying your mix.
Do not apply any dithering during mixdown. Leave that to the mastering engineer. Also if your audio mixing software/DAW is capable of mixdown at 24bit 96Khz (common in most professional studios), then use it. After all that high resolution will be VERY favorable to the mastering engineers when they do the mastering work of the track.
The minimum bit depth should be 24 bits (you should never mixdown to 16 bits, ever!). The sampling frequency can be 44.1Khz, 88.2Khz or 96Khz. Using 192Khz is not recommended and neither it is beneficial in contributing to the sound quality. But again, 24 bit, 96Khz or 24 bit, 44.1Khz are the standards.
Check List #3: The maximum amplitude of any wave in your mixdown audio tracks SHOULD not exceed above -3dB.
Purpose: By allowing or setting a maximum amplitude of -3dB, you are giving the mastering engineer a lot of headroom, which is very important. Remember that by doing this, a lot of headroom can mean less distortions after the audio mastering job and better sounding track.
You can use your audio mixing software to measure the maximum audio amplitude of the mixdown track. Bear in mind that maximum audio amplitude is DIFFERENT from average audio sound level (SPL).
It is because maximum amplitude is the maximum recorded peak of the mixdown signal. See screenshot below:
Check List #4: Never , ever compressed your mixdown in an attempt to make it LOUD and at the request of your clients.
Purpose: By compressing to make it loud in an attempt to praise clients or it is a client request, you are destroying your mix which is IMPOSSIBLE for mastering engineer to repair and restore its dynamics in natural way.
Educate your clients that it is the mastering engineer job to make it VERY loud. If they need to hear what is sounds if it is loud, simply turn the volume controls (of your studio console) to maximum without altering or applying any compression to the wave.
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