Questions and advice
Is my mix ready to be mastered?
If you are unsure whether your mix is ready for mastering then I can check it out and let you know for free. Just send your final exported mix for appraisal via the uploader – Get in touch. I will advise if any tweaks or adjustments would help to get a better master.
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How much headroom do I need to leave for mastering?
Ideally, your final mix should peak around -4 dB to -6dB in order to be in the best shape for me to master.
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What format do I need to supply files?
For mastering: WAV or AIFF stereo files, 44.1kHz sample rate (48kHz is also fine, but more for film/TV broadcast or videogames), bit depth 24-bit.
For mixing: WAV or AIFF files, 44.1kHz sample rate (48kHz is also fine, but more for film/TV broadcast or videogames), 24-bit. Individual tracks should be supplied as audio 'stems', which all start from the same point (ie. the beginning!) so that line up properly when imported into a mix session.
It would really help if they were logically labelled with filenames using this kind of convention:
Songname-01-Bass
Songname-02-Acoustic-gtr
Songname-03-Shakers
etc...
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Download my guidance spec sheet for preparing your files.
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How do I send them?
For single songs (e.g. for a mix appraisal), you can upload a stereo WAV directly from this website. For collections of songs or mix stems, please ZIP them and send via WeTransfer using email address:
greg@persephonic-audio.com
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What's your mastering chain?
This is a common question but the answer is: it really depends on the individual project and what is needed! Sure, I have some go-to plug-ins (who doesn't love a Pulteq emulation?!) but there's no 'one size fits all', all processing is decided based on what the particular song or collection of songs need.
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I work entirely 'in the box' with some industry standard suites of plug-ins from the likes of Universal Audio, Waves, SSL and Kush among others.
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