Preparing for Mastering: What Files (And Levels) Do I Need to Send to the Mastering Engineer?

What kinds of files should you be sending to your mastering engineer? Should you be leaving your buss processing on or off? How loud should your mixes be?

I answer all this and more, in detail, in today’s episode. Short written versions of the answers can also be found below the video.

Thanks to Soundtoys, Focusrite, and Steinberg for sponsoring this episode. Remember to subscribe and review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Want the short answers instead? Here goes the abbreviated Cliff Notes version:

-What files types should I send?

Send full resolution WAV files. Send them at whatever bit depth and sample rate you were working on in your session. If you were working at 24/88.2 send that. If you were working at 24/44.1, send that!

-Should I leave my bus processing on, or take it off?

Leave on any processing that was part of your MIX! If you mixed through a compressor, or an EQ, or a limiter, or any other bus processors, leave them on.

If you added them at the end of the process, just for loudness, leave them off. (Though it can’t hurt to also send your own attempt at mastering to give your mastering engineer something to “beat”.)

-How LOUD should my mixes be?

In this day and age, it doesn’t really matter too much! But you’ll probably want to send your mixes a bit quieter than you want the final master to be.

A final master in rock and pop genres may often end up anywhere between -14LUFS and -9 LUFS on a loudness meter. So sending files that are on the lower end of that spectrum, or even lower than -14LUFS is good way to go.

A super “safe” range to mix at would be -22LUFS to -16 LUFS for these genres. But if you’re getting a great sound by going substantially louder, have at it!

Electronic dance-oriented genres will often end up between -9 LUFS and -5 LUFS after mastering. A good “safe” range for mixing would be -12 to -10 LUFS. But again, feel free to mix louder if you are getting great sounds.

Hip hop masters are often somewhere in between, and can often end up anywhere from -13 LUFS to -6 LUFS after mastering, depending on the subgenre or style. Mixing a little bit lower than where you expect your mix to wind up in the end is a good call.

Please note: When you buy products through links on this page, we may earn an affiliate commission.