How to Prepare Your Mix for Mastering + Recommended Export Settings

[@BlackGhostAudio]

Get my music production course for beginners: bit.ly/3Dwmv83

[@balderma]

Thank you for this information. Exactly what I needed! I subscribed to your channel.

[@philipriddle8987]

Thank U.......very helpful for my old brain......

[@ZekeMagnar]

Thanks for this video. I had a question with regard to the 6 dB of headroom: As long as no individual track is distorted, can you simply bring down the volume of the master channel to -6 dB? Or do you need to bring down the volume of each individual channel? Or does it not matter?

[@BlackGhostAudio]

You can just drop the level of the master track 👍🏻In the digital world, you have a lot of flexibility and freedom when it comes to audio levels. Working with analog gear is a different story,

[@ZekeMagnar]

@@BlackGhostAudio Gotcha! Thank you so much for your help and speedy reply. I appreciate it.

[@scrupulousness.6171]

I love your videos, thanks for great tips! Can you also inform us on choosing headphones(for mixing, mastering, tracking)?

[@BlackGhostAudio]

I use the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headphones as my closed-back headphones and the AKG K702 headphones as my open-back headphones. These headphones are both a great value and have held up for years. I use them in conjunction with Sonarwork's Reference 4 software and I couldn't be happier. If you'd like to learn more about the difference between closed-back and open-back headphones, along with when to use one or the other, check out this guide: www.blackghostaudio.com/blog/the-difference-between-open-back-and-closed-back-headphones

[@scrupulousness.6171]

@@BlackGhostAudio Man, you're a golden. Thanks a ton!

[@nik_mik]

great video man, thank you!

[@ctk1604]

So do I export all of the audio files or export them so they are all one file

[@BlackGhostAudio]

Typically, you export a single audio file.

[@ctk1604]

@@BlackGhostAudio thank you!

[@videonut28]

Good information.

[@JoelHernandez-vs1kn]

thnks

[@leonardosavioli4936]

🔥🔥

[@ignyification]

you're giving people wrong information, mastering is always 44.1K not that what you're saying

[@BlackGhostAudio]

For CD distribution, 16-bit 44.1 kHz is the standard. Although, that's not necessarily the case for digital distribution. Here's a link to Apple's Mastered for iTunes documentation explaining why they request high-resolution masters (page 3): apple.co/39Sz17j "To take best advantage of our latest encoders send us the highest resolution master file possible, appropriate to the medium and the project. An ideal master will have 24-bit 96kHz resolution. These files contain more detail from which our encoders can create more accurate encodes. However, any resolution above 16-bit 44.1kHz, including sample rates of 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, and 192kHz, will benefit from our encoding process. Don’t upsample files to a higher resolution than their original format. Upsampling won’t recover or add information to an audio file. Don’t provide files that have been downsampled and dithered for a CD. This degrades the file’s audio quality. As technology advances and bandwidth, storage, battery life, and processor power increase, keeping the highest quality masters available in our systems allows for full advantage of future improvements to your music. Also, though it may not be apparent because there may not always be a physical, tangible master created in LP or CD format, the iTunes catalog forms an important part of the world’s historical and cultural record. These masters matter-especially given the move into the cloud on post-PC devices."

[@die_hard_stunner2030]

Didn't learn a thing

[@BlackGhostAudio]

If you already know this information, then that’s great!