8 Mixing Tips for Better Audio Masters
There are several things you can do at the mix stage to ensure better results in the mastering stage. Here are eight mixing tips from seasoned mastering engineers.
We’ve covered various mixing tips and techniques over the years, but one thing everyone can all agree on—regardless of genre, production style, budget, etc.—is that we all want our mixes to reach its best possible mastered sound before it hits the music marketplace. Besides aiming for a great-sounding mix, there are several other ways you can set yourself up for success, ensuring that your mixes translate into great-sounding masters.
In this article, we share eight mixing tips to help you get better audio masters. We also share insights from seasoned mastering engineers (Rachel Field, Anna Frick & Piper Payne) about why each of these tips are helpful and why they’re worth the time to apply to your own mixing workflow.
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Why mastering matters from a mixing perspective
Although these tips are focused on the mixing stage, it’s important to understand the value of mastering and why it helps to optimize your mixes with that in mind. We’ve covered this in greater detail before but in a nutshell, mastering is the final stage of quality-check where nuanced technical and creative adjustments can be made to your music before it gets released.
You can, of course, master your own mixes and I highly encourage you to keep practicing your mastering chops as it gives you a better insight into how you can improve on your own mixes. But there is also a reason why award-winning producers and mixers regularly collaborate with professional mastering engineers. Mastering engineers are attuned to a critical level of listening that allow them to make effective adjustments to your music. Having a neutral, objective set of ears, along with a purpose-built mastering environment also provide them with greater control over the mastering process in order to best serve your music.
Consequently, mastering engineers are also great resources when it comes to advice on how to improve your mixes. Working with a wide variety of genres and clients on a daily basis, they have in-depth insight into what can be improved at the mixing stage for the music to reach its full potential in mastering.
Now, it may be tempting to simply send over your mixes for mastering and hope for the best, but taking these proactive steps to improve your mixing strategy will yield exponential gains not just on the final mastered sound, but also with your overall productivity. It also improves the collaborative nature between the mixing and mastering stage (e.g., your mastering engineer will appreciate it!). WIthout further ado, here are eight mixing tips for better audio masters from a mastering engineer’s perspective.