Mixing Headroom for CD Mastering
Before you submit your mixes for mastering, it is important to make sure you leave enough headroom and dynamic-range for the mastering engineer.
Definitions:
-Peak level – The absolute highest level the output reaches to distort or go in the red.
-Dynamic-range – The range between the highest level and the lowest level of the output signal.
-Headroom – The difference between the nominal signal value and the maximum undistorted value.
-Master Fader – Stereo fader for setting your mixer’s main output level.
Master Peak Level
Most mastering engineers recommend having the loudest part of a mix at -5db from 0db. This means you should have the loudest part of the mix 5db lower before the peak level.
Never go over 0db on the master fader or individual tracks in the mix. You could have your mix on the master fader within the -5db standard, but have individual tracks peaking in the red and distorting. Mastering will not fix this issue and has to be fixed during the mixing process.
Dynamic-range
One of the most important things to remember while mixing is dynamic-range. You want to leave at least 3db to 4db of dynamic-rang from the lowest part of the mix to the loudest part. You can see the dynamic-range of a mix by looking at the waveform in your audio editor program. The waveform will show peaks and valleys.
Dynamic-range allows you to give a mix feeling and emotion. Don’t over compress mixes. Leave final limiting and compression on the mix to the mastering engineer.
DO NOT NORMALIZE a mix! This removed dynamic-range and raises the lowest peak to the highest peak, making the mix almost one level. Since the transients of the tracks have all been cut off, there’s nothing left for the mastering studio to work with. This can not be undone in the mastering process.
Ready to submit your mixes for mastering? Go to the preparation steps page, click here.
