How to Prepare Your Track for Mastering

We’re often asked the best way to prepare songs for mastering. Preparing your pre-master correctly is the single most important factor to a good sounding master.

If you spend a bit of time preparing your pre-master correctly, you’ll be giving us the best possible mix to work with, which in turn ensures you get the best results from mastering your music. Please spend a little time reading through this page to ensure you're sending us the best mixdown and correct format to work with.

Can I add any processing to my master bus?

No, please remove all processing from your master channel. Adding processors to the master channel can make it difficult for us to make a great master. EQ, compression and limiting can all affect the dynamics, which is taken care of by us at the mastering stage.

How loud should my pre-master be?

During the main section of your song, the peak level should be about -5db. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Giving us enough headroom to work with will give you a better master. We will use EQ and compression alongside other tools which boost the peak level of your song.

For example, if you send us a song that’s peaking at 0db, our processing will cause the audio to peak above 0db and distort. If you’re unsure of your levels, use a peak meter to measure the output on your master channel.

Please note: the master fader must remain at 0db at all times, with the audio peaking through it at -5db.

If my song is not peaking at -5db, how do I change it?

Do not just lower the master fader; leave the master fader at 0db and lower (or raise) every single channel together in your mix until the overall level is peaking around -5db on the loudest section of your song. Although we do ask for -5db headroom, we will accept anything between -3db and -6db.

Please submit your files as 44100hz, 24bit WAV files