The DijonStock Digital Home Recording Support Forum

How can I tell a mix is good when it's not mastered yet?

I mean, I can tell when the result of mix & master is OK. But how to judge a good mix without being mastered?

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Don't judge the coffee by its cup.
The proof of the cheese is in the eating

If the raw mix sounds like it's already been mastered, then it's good.

Seriously, my understanding of mastering is that it gives all the songs on the CD a consistent "sound" (i.e., like they were all recorded in the same place). Also gives a "polish" to all the songs and a consistent volume level between them.

However, since I've never compared one of my songs to a mastered version, I really have no actual experience.

One caveat; don't have a lot of compression on your mix or the mastering engineer doesn't have much room to work his/her magic.

BTW, I've seen mastering websites that will master one (1) of your songs for free.

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Ralph (aka The Head Hog)
"What's Time to a Hog?"
Hog Time Music Website - My Songs on Bandcamp -

I think it's just a differance between how much the raw mix needs to be adjusted to become a master around here. I just try to get the levels in as close as possible , all the effects , editing , dynamics in place , then use mastering tools like Waves and TC Hallcon's Finalizer to put on the final polish.

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THE MUSIC IS DOWN IN HERE
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Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

I am pretty sure when you send your mix to any mastering house; a good idea is to have your song as a stem, broken down as their individual tracks so the mastering engineer can make a better mix..hopefully still staying loyal to your original vision
check out their credentials -snoop around
and see what music they have handled-does it resemble your style?..the way they overcompress drums?.etc...
so maybe a ballpark mix will do the trick
and the rest could rely in the hands of the engineer,
if you like their techniques.

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http://joelbooska.wixsite.com/thevideofringe

Hey Robbie, when I am done mixing and my mix sounds similar to production CD's but bumpier (due to dynamics being less restrained), I am happy. If its nice and flat as far as EQ is concerned and there is enough air in the upper frequencies.

I find that if I get my mix to this point, then drop a multiband compressor onto the stereo track, good things happen, if I do not have enough EQ coverage in the mix, adding the multiband just ruins the piece.

Wow, that sounded better in my head, if it sounds like rubbish, please ignore.

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People lover city builder future liver bigger dreamer louder rocker greater giver looking at the bigger picture.

Thanks for the valuable info!

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Don't judge the coffee by its cup.
The proof of the cheese is in the eating