What Should Not Be On Your Mix Bus When Sending The Mix For Mastering?

[@riktascale4]

This was a really important tip on using a mastered track as a reference for mixes causing them to be too bright and harsh. Always wracked my head with this as a newbie to the fore. Thanks...everything is all now coming together.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

It's only when someone says it out loud you think wait a minute, that's so obvious

[@woutervanteerling]

Damn!!! This is gold

[@dronbana]

Such good timing of this video, i'm almost done mixing to send in the tracks for mastering. Thank you.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

Great. Glad to hear that.

[@TheMackyD]

Love how frequent these uploads. Great content as well!

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

I try to answer and upload a question a day. Otherwise they stack up and people are waiting a month for their question to be answered.

[@wadewilliams1892]

Great video - confirming everything I have learnt on my degree

[@I_S_Chew]

I don’t even use saturation anymore. I figured out during my first year engineering to just let things be in that regard. By the time a signal reaches my mastering chain, there is a decent amount of added saturation from normal processing. I liken it to there being sugar in almost all food.

[@braxal6983]

Excellent video!!! Please keep them coming!

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

Thanks for watching

[@b.hornetiii.6771]

Yes I agree 100%. Could you do a review of the SPL new Vitalizer MK3 - T. It sounds great and I think it's the better option for pre- mastering "mojo" than SSL Fusion. That would be great if you would get your hands on one unit and try it out. :)

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

I will see what I can do. I used to have the original version and it was a really good unit. I'd like to hear the version myself too.

[@DaGabbaGangsta]

I mix into compression, but aim for a flat neutral mix

[@patrickalphenaar]

Great video thanks! How about spectral balance? Do you want mixes being send in, where according, for example “True Balance” everything is balanced? I have one track which is a bit vintage style and a bit dark, true balance says i could reduce the low end by 6db, while its my purpose to have a more bass oriented song………. Will you balance that 6db out? Or do you maybe think its suits the song but technically its not balanced? Cheers

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

I wouldn't trust true balance too much as a fact of how the balance should be. If you want the bass up 6db and it sounds as you want it, then leave it as that. If it's fitting with the style, then it's perfectly fine. We wouldn't adjust that balance as it would be clear that the mix is intended to be like this. However if we see it as an error in the mix that when we listen it's clear the reason the bass is up 6db is because the speakers are down 6db in your room. Then we would adjust this. Or would ask the question to you before mastering. Take true balance with a pinch of salt.

[@patrickalphenaar]

Thanks! Yea i get the picture. My Room is luckily not 6db off so its all about taste and “fit” the song, however for sure you guys will get a more solid and better sounding bass out of it while mastering! Cheers and thanks for your reply😊

[@patricioandres2562]

As always, very interesting. The truth is that they should send you a version with their processing and another without them, and that way they can take advantage of your gifts and your good equipment! Better for everyone, and much more efficient! One question: Have you tried the Vertigo VSM4 (plugin), unfortunately I wanted to try it, but I had already done it years ago and I wrote to them requesting a new demo and they didn't answer me!!! Will it be better than PA's VSM3? Will it be worth the price difference?

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

I've never actually used the VSM 4 version. I own a VSM-2 so I've always been favourable to the emulation.

[@patricioandres2562]

👌

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

@officialWWM Yes, this is often the case with top down mixing. In this kind of situation where the mix completely falls apart once removed, it is better to leave everything active as it is part of your sound. The only thing that should be removed or eased back on is the limiting. Subtle limiting isn't an issue. It's only an issue when limiting is applied heavily.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

@@officialWWM I feel like you didn't watch the video. That or didn't understand what I said in it. You keep saying what I say in the video in these comments.

[@toumbas]

yeah but if we dont apply anything on the master, you will not know how our ideal reference master is.i had this conversation again with my mastering engineer, if you dont guide the mix to be the sound you want, then the mastering engineer cannot read your mind. and then when the master is done, you feel that it didnt improve because you left the mix untreated, and the engineer wanted to stay true to the original as much as possible. right?

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

If you feel the need to send a mastering engineer a reference master you have done, you can always master the mix you are sending.

[@simeonmatthews4584]

I mix into my hardware mastering chain. Is that wrong?

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

No harm if you make sure you are inputting into the mastering chain at the right level.