Keep in mind that DistroKid has extra costs not listed on their main plan section. There’s plenty of good practices you can develop in your mixes to improve your results.įollow these steps to get the best results from your LANDR masters and give your songs the pro polish they deserve.Well, disctrokid offers $19.99/yr unlimited songs or $35.99/yr to do all the things that landr do on their complete package, but without the extra costs per song/album release. Mastering has never been easier, but preparing your mixes well still matters. Your DAW will now export a high-resolution WAV or AIFF file you can use to create an HD master. If you choose any bit depth other than 32, remember to check the dither box in the dialog. You probably had to choose this at the beginning of your session and you shouldn’t change it now unless you really need to.įor the bit depth, choose to export at 32 bit if your DAW allows it or 24 bit if that’s the highest available. The export process works differently in each DAW, but here are the basics you need to know for mastering:įor sample rate, select the rate at which you recorded your files. That means selecting the right sample rate and bit depth in your DAW’s bounce dialog. This is one of the simplest, most effective tips to preparing your track for mastering.Ĭhoosing the export format makes a big difference to the overall audio quality of the file you send to mastering. Unless you’re doing something specific, you can usually get all the control you need just by manipulating the tracks themselves. If you’re unsure about how you want to use plugins on your stereo bus, consider leaving them out altogether. The mastering process will take care of raising the level and evening out the dynamics for distribution on streaming platforms. Just avoid using plugins that affect the overall gain and headroom like limiters or aggressive compression.Īvoid using plugins that affect the overall gain and headroom like limiters or aggressive compression. EQ, saturation and light character compression are all fair game to use for tone shaping. Don’t be afraid to use plugins on the master bus if they get you closer to the finished sound of a mix you’re aiming for.īut be careful. Some engineers swear by it, others claim it does more harm than good. Master bus processing is a touchy subject. That will give you great headroom for LANDR mastering. That means maintaining headroom at your busses and especially your master output. If you need a refresher, check out our overview of gain staging here.įor the quick version, a good rule of thumb is to keep the peaks of your sound hitting not much above -10 dBFS and the body of your waveform around -18 dBFS.įollow these guidelines on the way in as you record your tracks but also try to stick with throughout your mix. The way to create headroom is by following the best practices for gain staging. If you try to record a signal that’s louder than what the medium is capable of handling, it will clip the tops of the waveform and you’ll hear that as distortion. If you don’t leave enough on the file you upload to LANDR, the mastering processors won’t have much room to work their magic.Įvery recording medium has a finite amount of headroom. Headroom is how much room your audio signal has before it starts to get compressed and distorted. Reference your mix on a few different sound systems-laptop speakers, earbuds, car stereos and home hifis can help you decide if your mix is finished and you’ve made it sound as good as it possibly can. Listening in different listening environments is another important mix referencing technique-especially if you’re mixing in an environment with little or no acoustic treatment. Hearing how your mix compares to professional work can give you valuable information about what you need to change to get a polished sound. Listen for the critical aspects of your mix like frequency range, dynamics and the levels of each element Mix referencing means comparing your mix critically against other songs in your library, previous mixes you’ve made or other versions of your song in the same project. Reference your mixīefore you decide your mix is finished take some time for mix referencing to get perspective. In this guide I’ll show you the 5 steps to make sure your song is ready for LANDR mastering. In fact, there are several essential things you need to do in your mix to prepare your tracks for mastering. Mastering is one of the most misunderstood parts of music production.Įven though you can save a lot of time and effort by using AI to master your music, you still have to pay attention to the finer points to get the best results.
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