Conor Dalton's mixing advice:

Recurring mixdown issues i see regularly as a mastering engineer

● Too much bass due to the mixing engineer using small speakers, and so having no clear way of hearing
low frequencies while they work as the speakers can't create the lowest octave(s).
● Dominant Resonances: loud dominant single frequencies demanding your attention in a narrow
bandwidth. These can destabilize a mix, mask frequencies, and make for a frustrating sound.
● Phase problems due to too much wide panning and non time aligned instruments: use a correlation
meter to analyse the width of certain frequency ranges
● Too much reverb usually due to the mixing engineer working in a room with speakers too close
together or with sub optimal monitoring conditions, or perhaps too many low and low mid range
frequencies in the reverb, creating a muddy washed out feeling that also contains resonances and
dominant frequencies that can start masking the dry direct instruments.
● One instrument dull in the frequency domain and lacking high frequencies: another instrument harsh
and bright, which leads to the mix having dull and harsh characteristics at the same time: this can be
hard to address at mastering as any attempt to fix this problem will emphasise one of these issues
● Dips in the frequency spectrum overall or over emphasized frequency ranges leading to a frustrated,
weak unbalanced sound
● Spikey hihats with multiple harsh dominant frequencies in the sensitive frequency range between
1kHz - 6 kHz
● Non-balanced levels in terms of volume between the instruments: this is one of the most important
things to get right as if the bass is loud and the kick is quiet, the mastering processing will have to
compress the low end to rectify this which could be avoided simply but adjusting the volumes of the
instruments earlier in the processing.
● Over-compressed material, if the mixing engineer tries to make the song "loud" at the expense of
punch.

TIP: You should have visual meters running on your stereo output to familiarize yourself with how music looks
on a correlation meter and frequency analyser and use volume matched reference songs to skip for a few
seconds to to reset your ears while you work.

Correlometer (free vst plugin) can visualize the width of the frequency spectrum
Span is a useful free tool to visualize the frequency balance of the entire mix, or individual elements. If you hold
ctrl and click it can solo frequencies, moving the mousewheel will increase or decrease the Q

What makes a mix translate well across many environments?

● Clarity: the ability to identify the individual components of the mix, this is achieved by having the
instruments occupy their own space in terms of amplitude, frequency and phase.
● Technical issues are resolved: For example, cleaning up errors, unwanted noise, controlling
resonances, fixing vocal pops and clicks, controlling sibilance on voice.
● Time aligning the components of the mix as best as possible, so try and align the peaks and troths of
similar elements by moving the parts forwards or back in time by a few milliseconds, for example the
drums, you can also use a phase rotating plugin to tighten things further such as Little Labs IBP or
Voxengo Pha-979
● Punch: Can you feel the energy of the transient of the kick and drums? Or have you sacrificed that
snap in favour of a warmer sound? The strike of the drums is important so that the dynamic energy
jumps out of the speakers, allow the transients to drive the groove. You can bring transient back to
over compressed material with a tool like Oxford Transmod.
● Depth: How close is the noise, is it forward or backward in the sound stage (determined by volume of
the sound in comparison to everything else). Use reverb/loudness/timing/width to allow for a bigger
overall image. The movement creates realism and a "stage", but don't forget that your most important
ingredients (vocals, lead synth, kick, bass) should feel center stage for a confident sounding
performance.
● Personality: a sonic identity that gives you a feel of the tone and personality of the noises. Texture,
tone and feeling that is unique to the noise. Is it clean, dirty? Raw, smooth? Is it saturated, dry, thin,
warm? Have some elements been doubled and detuned to fill a different octave?
● Balance: are the elements at a volume that allows them all to be heard without competing too much
and sticking out over everything else? Is something behind all the other instruments and neglected so
it becomes slightly inaudible? What about their frequency content, are elements evenly spread among
the spectrum? Is the frequency spectrum filled up with the ingredients of the song or have you
neglected certain ranges.
● Human emotional impact: Arguably the most important, and a combination of all of the above
categories. In human terms, how does it make you feel as a person? Can you connect with the artists
story? As Mandy Parnell once said: If you hear "Bob Marley - Jammin" while sitting at a beach bar,
your first thought won't be "this song doesn't have a lot of high end frequencies", your first thought
will most likely be "the song makes me feel good". How does a song make you feel something? Well
that's a whole other discussion!
How to achieve powerful mixes:
It is a carefully tweaked combination of every decision made at every stage. It starts with the source material:
good quality source material is essential, whether that's samples, microphone recordings, analog equipment,
or VST instruments. Next is production and arrangement: are too many things playing at once? Are too many
similar instruments competing for space? Is there contrast in macrodynamics between the sections of the
song?

Next is the mixdown:

● Techniques such as high pass filtering to remove non essential sub information on elements that don't
need it such as vocals, guitars, hats (only if necessary, since it could have a negative impact as well due
to phase shift with minimum phase EQ or pre-ringing on transients with linear phase EQ),
● Stereo optimization (panning, widening, mid/side EQ), it's a good idea to not have too much wide sub
frequency information, or to have your main instruments sound like they are on the sides of the stage
● Fixing dominant resonances, with dynamic EQ for surgical precision centered around one problematic
frequency, or multiband compression if there are multiple resonances in a small area. Dominant
frequencies take away attention / space from the surrounding frequencies, so they should be
controlled, but it's not advisable to take a dominant frequency and make it a weak frequency, but
rather to make a dominant frequency step back to sound confident but under control.
● Appropriate EQ, to balance the frequency spectrum. As a rough starting point Linear phase EQ is
potentially best for gentle wide Q boosts especially in the high end if you want to protect the phase
relationship while adding high frequency content, or minimum phase for surgical cuts on transients or
low mid range correctional work. Be aware of transient pre-ringing when using linear phase EQ, be
aware of phase shift when using minimum phase EQ.
● Pay particular attention to the range between 1.5kHz and 6kHz, your ear is especially sensitive here
(see: fletcher munson curve): if there are resonances here your song will feel harsh. If the resonances
are controlled here and this area is smooth and loud overall then the song will sound big, clear and
powerful
● Contrast can be a useful mix trick, for example, a narrow verse and a wide chorus, or a quiet
breakdown which gives the first kick drum back the impact it deserves.
● Automation is very important, we love (even subtle) changes. Good automation choices means we can
use less compression also.
● Too many dominant tones in the low mid range will make a song sound muddy, find them with EQ
using your ears or use an analyser like SPAN and see what's going on there visually, are there big
boomy resonant notes? Are they in key or room resonances? What does the song feel like if you
reduce one of them with EQ (narrow Q), does it feel lighter overall? More open in the high end?
● Controlling the low mid resonances between 150Hz-500Hz can help make your track feel free open
and expressive, but if you lack too much low mids the song will not feel confident or sincere overall,
we need this thickness.
● For vocal processing, controlling sibilance is essential, as harsh "SSSS" sounds can lead to a stressful
sensation, so using a de-esser or plugin like Soothe2 could be very helpful. Also controlling 'plosives'
that sound like bursts of air overloading the microphone. There are tools from Izotope RX to address
this. Vocal volume automation is essential.
● Broadband dynamic processing if necessary (compression or expansion or a combination) to control
dynamics of individual elements, and also to control dynamics of groups (drum group, synth group).
Using a side chain to relax the threshold of compression on the lower frequencies can be useful on
mixbus processing or drum bus processing so the compression isn't always triggered by the low
frequencies only.
● Multiband processing can be used to fix issues such as a build up of frequencies in certain areas, for
example a loud violin in the high mid range in the second chorus, multiband processing could tame
that range and leave everything else alone (as with all processing only if beneficial). Multiband
processing is ideal to solve problems, rather than to shape your entire mix.
● Time based effects like delay and reverb, to provide a sense of space: these should ideally be on a
send rather than on the individual channel. This way you protect the dry signal and compliment it with
a dedicated 100% wet channel (blended to taste) that provides you with a sense of depth and space in
a "room".
 ● Enhancing musical frequency areas or overtones, with saturation. This adds new richness into the
frequency spectrum.

Below is a way to visualize the effects of saturation

Here is a 1kHz sine wave without saturation

and with (extreme) saturation (below):

If this is the results of saturation on a pure sine wave, then you can imagine how adding (subtle) saturation into
a complex signal will generate harmonics and richness in the frequency spectrum in a potentially useful way
but be aware of the risks too, such as rounding of the transients and losing some of the accuracy of the source
material.

It's also worth mentioning here that it's very important to have your corrective EQing BEFORE
saturation or colourful processing in the order of your processing, as otherwise you are adding
harmonics to unwanted dominant frequencies or frequency ranges, which can increase frequency
imbalance issues and make them even harder to remove.
 Setting levels
● Setting levels takes some practice and experience, but it's one of the most important aspects of a
good mix. This determines how close the instrument feels to us on the sound stage.
● You could try the pink noise trick to see how that feels as a starting point for setting your levels:
● Use a [Pink Noise sample] and solo individual instruments while playing pink noise until you can barely
hear the instrument, then move onto the next instrument in solo, and do this with each instrument
until finally you mute the pink noise and you should be left with a roughly balanced mixdown in terms
of volumes. Please note this is a starting point, from here it's important to adjust for taste to prioritize
the important ingredients: it's welcome to be tastefully unbalanced, prioritizing what is important.
-18dB is a good starting point for the pink noise.
● 4dB trick: turn an instrument up by +4dB or down by -4dB. What do you learn? If you turn it down by
-4dB and you can still clearly hear the instrument in the mix, then it was maybe originally too loud.
Same in vice versa
Headroom on your mixdown while you work:
● It's important to allow for some headroom: say around -6dB for the loudest peak of the song overall is
a safe target.
● Why? So the mastering engineer is dealing with dynamic audio that still has the transients intact with
no risk of clipping internally in plugins or during export while attempting to exceed 0dB.
● Turning down your master fader at the end will ensure that the signal is not clipping the output, but
some (older) plugins would still have the possibility of clipping internally while you work if you are
exceeding 0dB, so it's better to mix with headroom at the source than to turn down at the end.
● This leaves the engineer with many more options when using compression and limiting, and
ultimately more control.
● Somewhere around -18dB Peak per individual channel in your software is a GREAT average level for
your recordings and audio while you work. It assures clean and pristine sound and compatibility with
all plug-ins and gear and will allow for plenty of headroom on the overall mix.
● Turn up your speakers, not your faders. Loudness comes later during mastering.
● Below is an example of a dynamic mixdown with headroom that would be suitable to send to the
mastering engineer
Gain Staging
With every change you make in the mix, you should volume match the output of the processor to match the
same level as the input so the source material leaves the processing at the same perceived volume as it enters
the processing, this is gain staging. This way you don't start eating into the headroom of the mix, and when you
turn the processing on and off you can hear the effect of the processing without the deceiving volume change.
This is also the only way to really tell if you made something sound better or just louder, don't forget loudness
can come easily at any stage with a limiter: it's much more important to protect the songs integrity while you
make your adjustments rather than chase loudness with every step.

Recognising dominant resonances and controlling them with EQ

A resonance is a buildup of high amplitude frequency energy in a narrow bandwidth, causing a note to sing /
ring / dominate a frequency range. Reducing / controlling them is best done early in the signal path so the
problems don't influence the other processors later in the chain
● To find resonances, sweep with a high Q on an EQ, narrow bandwidth, and boost by a lot, move
through the frequency spectrum slowly, what note rings / sings / jumps out LOUD? Maybe you could
do with less of one or two of these loud frequencies, so now take a narrow Q small cut out of the
frequencies that really stood out. Act like a surgeon: do as much as needed, but no more.
● Alternatively use a spectrum analyser plugin like Voxengo SPAN with a slow release to find resonances
visually, ctrl click to solo frequency and while doing so use mouse wheel to adjust Q.
● EQing in key can be useful, using an EQ from DMG Equilibrium or using Fabfilter Pro-Q3 would make
this easy in the digital domain. You can use a musical keyboard app for playing piano notes on your
phone (for example "virtuoso") to find out the notes in the song and keep that in mind when EQing,
snapping the nodes to the musical note using the musical keyboard at the bottom of the EQ for extra
musical accuracy and relevance
● Room resonances are harder to find this way however as they won't have predictable musical key.
● To control resonances use static minimum phase or linear phase EQ with narrow Q and cut the
offending frequency to taste if the resonance is always playing, -3dB is a starting point, but it depends
on the amplitude of the resonance.
● Use minimum phase EQ if the resonance is on a transient to avoid pre-ringing, also best suited for low
mid resonance control usually.
● Or use dynamic EQ (linear or minimum) to reduce the resonance if it only occurs every so often, this
way you only target the frequency when it exceeds over the loudness threshold and don't
permanently cut into the frequency even when it's not problematic.

Too many resonances prevent you from reaching the overall perceived loudness and power of a balanced song,
due to build up of frequency concentrated in certain areas and not spread out evenly, these high amplitude
areas rise to hit the limiter's threshold alone, and not as part of a team in balance with all the other
frequencies of the song.
Rough example guideline for stereo placement

Above Image from Masteringthemix is a good example, but remember the choice of panning is a personal one rather than a
strict formula, experiment and trust your instincts. It’s ok to not follow this example.

● Use Voxengo MSED (free) to check your mixdown in mono. Does any instrument
disappear? This is showing you that there is a mono compatibility issue due to
excessive panning / very wide source material.
● Also it's wise to use this plugin to check the sides. Does something stand out as
problematic? Wide sub frequencies for example can give you an unsettling feeling
and these can be usually reduced to prioritize central sub frequencies instead.
Mixing Bass
● If high pass filtering to remove the lowest sub information or remove DC offset, some cut-off
resonance (boost before the cut) is worth trying out to help it to sit a little nicer in the mix and cut
through.
● Usually a 12dB per octave roll off low cut works best in my experience but there are exceptions.
Experimentation is always advised.
● Too much sub and the whole track feels nervous and frustrated, sub under 20hz is pretty much
useless as sound systems can't recreate it, but EQ low cutting in minimum phase mode can actually
increase the peak level of the instrument due to the Gibbs effect, or cause pre-ringing in linear
phase, so only cut if you need to get rid of these useless frequencies, otherwise the bass can be left
alone to avoid those destabilizing artefacts.
● Look for resonances in the low midrange of the bass: does one note jump out louder than all the
others? If so it could do with some EQ control: Does it happen once every 20 seconds (then use
dynamic EQ), or does it happen constantly (then use static EQ)?

Here is an example (not a guideline that works for everything, but just an idea)

● Sometimes if you want 'more bass' in the mix, you actually just want to hear it cut through, meaning
its the mid range of the bass that needs a boost, rather than the sub. This could be done by EQ
boosting, saturation, or even opening up the stereo field of the bass for the higher octaves on the bass
over 200hz. This could also help it translate on smaller speakers that can't produce the lowest octaves.
● Setting the bass with a healthy relationship in terms of volume to the kick drum is essential. One
shouldn't overpower the other but both are very important.

Creative tip: take a bass, and duplicate it. Leave version A alone, and on version B smash it up with distortion
and overly aggressive limiting, blend B in a tiny bit to compliment A, if you want rich harmonics without losing
the original feeling of the source material.

This video from Dan Worrall is excellent in discussing bass mixing challenges.
Compression / Expansion: a rough practical guideline

● Downwards compression: Reduces amplitude of the loudest events in the source material
● Upwards compression: Increases amplitude of the quiet events in the source material

Both compression types reduce dynamic range (e.g. distance between the shouts and the whispers)

● Upwards expansion: Makes the loudest events louder (transient enhancing for example)
● Downwards expansion: Makes the quietest events quieter (de-noise, de-hiss plugins for
example)

Both expansion types increase the dynamic range.

Make sure you use the makeup gain to compensate for the gain reduction when using downwards
compression
i.e. If downwards compression dynamically reduces the signal by -4dB gain reduction on the loudest peaks, set
the makeup gain to +4dB.
This is the ONLY way you can hear the effect of the compressor and not the deceiving volume change.
Set a tiny loop of a few seconds and watch the peak level on the meters with the compressor on and with the
compressor off, they should be the same value. Some compressors have an equal loudness bypass feature
which does this automatically so you can compare before and after processing.

● For live recorded drums it's important to grab the initial transient which can often be way louder than
desirable for a balanced mixdown, using something like an LA2A or 1176 is common (linked are free
vst versions).
● For sampled drums or loops, less compression is needed usually, a lot of processing could already be
applied.
● For drum busses a slower attack and fast release for snappy energetic sound works well, or if you want
a warmer sound you can make the attack a little faster at the expense of punch.
● Pads, Slow attack and slow release for a gentle reduction in the distance between the louder and
quieter sections can work great.
● Synths (quick snappy synth) Slow attack fast release 2:1 taking off 4dB or so and compensating with
makeup gain might be a regular place to begin with your compression settings, pushing the sustain of
the noise upwards and allowing the punch to exist untouched. Adjust to taste
● Vocals, medium slow attack, medium release, about 6-8dB gain reduction is a common starting point,
making sure all words can be heard and understood clearly over the music and the whispers don't get
lost in the noise, and the shouts don't stick out too much. However with vocals, it will also be
important to automate the volume for individual phrases, words or syllables that get lost in the noise,
simply compressing won't fix everything, vocals need extra attention as it's the instrument we are the
most familiar with and we know when a voice sounds "off" very quickly. It could be useful to use two
compressors for a vocal, one to catch quick peaks and one to control the overall body.
 ● Bass: if certain notes are jumping out a lot louder than others use a compressor to reduce the
loudness difference between the notes. This provides stability in the low frequencies which can be
very important.
● It's also sometimes necessary to side chain compress a bass, triggered by a kick for example,
sometimes this can rescue a relationship between kick and bass that has problems with the groove.
When doing so, a fast attack and fast release is essential.

Multiband dynamic compression / expansion

● Use to fix amplitude issues in certain frequency bandwidths, for example a buildup of loud high
midrange frequencies in the chorus of the song, or a lack of transient snap in the high frequencies
● Slow attack, fast release if you want to maintain drum punch, or fast attack fast release if you want to
flatten and warm things up at the expense of the transient attack.
● Also suitable for smoothing out a high end volume imbalance issue, such as the hat feels harsh and
loud, yet there isn't much air overall on everything else. You could have the multiband downwards
compressor reduce the volume of the hat, then adjust makeup gain to turn up the high end overall so
nothing is jumping out alone but the high end is appropriately loud and consistent in general.
● Don't use if you don't have a specific reason to do so: this is a problem solver, not a default. Overuse
can make a track feel unnatural and over processed, especially if all the bands have different attack /
release and ratio settings

Parallel processing:
● For example: Taking one instrument, duplicating it and heavily over-processing the duplicated
version with creative compression and/or distortion and blending it in with a little bit of volume to
tuck it in behind the unprocessed version.
● Can be incredibly useful and versatile when dealing with drums, bass, or vocals especially.
● Don't over-do it or use on every aspect of the mix.
● Can cause phase related artefacts so be careful of this, if in doubt check with a correlometer.

Image from Producelikeapro

Limiting (perhaps most useful at the mastering stage)
● Limiters are compressors with an infinite ratio and they are experts in peak management.
● They go last in the chain (followed only by dither to move from one higher bit depth to a lower bit
depth)
● Limiting is best left to the mastering stage, limiting should be used to protect the song from peak
distortion of transients trying to exceed 0dB, and also it's used to reach a specified level in terms of
loudness, but the limiter should never be used as the only way to achieve loudness (sonic integrity
shouldn't be sacrificed to achieve loudness)
● Nothing passes beyond their ceiling, except intersample peaks.
● Oversampling can help reduce intersample peaks
● True peak limiting can also help reduce artefacts at the expense of a little less perceived loudness.
● You can unlink the channels so it treats left and right differently for a more open sound, or link
channels for more controlled sound.
● -2 to -3dB gain reduction is maximum before damage occurs, usually. therefore if you are hitting -3dB
gain reduction and it still isn't as loud as you desire, this is an issue to fix in the mix balance rather
than in the master limiting. Go back and squeeze a few more dB from overly dynamic tracks in your
song to let the final limiter work less. The goal is to never rely on the final limiter to do too much.

Louder is not necessarily better if you have to sacrifice sonic integrity to achieve it.

● There will come a point where you start to degrade the audio by over limiting: the ONLY way to tell
when you have gone too far is by volume matching while adjusting levels. Same goes for compression.
Don't be deceived by a change in volume. Listen for the change in dynamics and distortion artefacts
cause by the limiting.
Processing on the stereo output
● Anything that you have applied for creativity on the masterbus, such as subtle EQ, gentle
compression (with slow attack preferably), colour / vibe / tape, can remain on your pre-master if you
feel it adds something to the sound that you like, but also send a version to the mastering engineer
without these effects if possible. However it's usually best to mix in a certain way so that processing
on the masterbus isn't necessary.
● Strong compression or limiting (or even more destructive, clipping) on the masterbus should be
switched off as if you over-do these effects it's impossible to undo.
● Best to fix EQ balance issues on the individual channel rather than on the stereo output in general
● If you made a self master or limited version, also send this so the engineer can get a feel for how you
heard it and your desired loudness target

The importance of referencing

● Referencing is the practice of comparing your mix to other songs in your genre at a the same
perceived volume while you are working
● Your references should be high quality productions that you aspire to sound like
● If you don't have anything to compare your mix to, how do you know if you aren't going the wrong
direction with your mix? If you want to be a good person you need good role models. Same for mixing.
Compare and contrast:
● Are all of your reference songs brighter than yours? Maybe your mix needs a high end boost then
● Check the mixdown reasonably loud when trying to evaluate the bass and check it at a quieter volume
when trying to judge clarity and making sure all the elements can be heard

Ear training resources:

● Soundgym
● Train your ear to hear the frequency you want to address,
● Pensado's ear training
● Learn how to listen
● We hallucinate our expectations into “reality”. Proof: here

Strategy
● It’s recommended to get your music sounding as close to finished as possible (minus the aggressive
limiting for loudness).
● Remember: a great mix = a much better chance at a great master.
● Your mixdown should sound 'like a record' as much as you can. Mastering should improve it further
while respecting your intentions, but the mixdown is key to good results, so don’t cut corners: if you
can fix something during the mix, do so. All of these little 1% improvements add up to a big result.
● Make your mix with no regard for the overall volume, which comes later at the mastering stage.
● Be aware of your room modes: use a sine wave generator to sweep slowly through the low
frequencies 20hz-200hz one at a time in your listening position. Does one frequency completely
disappear? Here you have a room mode cancellation. Does one frequency sound way louder than
everything else? Here you have a room mode peak. If you have crucial mix elements (such as a kick
drum) with strong amplitude at one of these problem frequencies your room resonances could
mislead you into boosting when you should be cutting and cutting when you should be boosting.
● Having good headphones to check can be useful here, as headphones have a single diaphragm that
remains the same distance from the ear at all times, so room resonances don't influence your decision
making. REW is free software for room acoustic measurement, loudspeaker measurement and audio
device measurement
Exporting the mixdown to send to mastering
Sample Rate
● Sample rate should be 44.1kHz or above (Keep the sample rate the same as you have been using while
working / recording, don’t upsample or downsample on export).

Bit depth
● 32bit without dither (The best due to the additional headroom and lack of dither required)
● 24bit with flat dither (ok but now we have to dither twice in total, once for exporting mixdown, once
for exporting master)
● 16bit with flat dither (acceptable but not ideal, better as a final container format)

Dither
● If you export your mixdown in 32bit floating point, you do not need to apply dither. This is optimal, as
then dither can be applied only once, at the very end of the mastering chain.
● To dither means to add low level noise to our audio signal. Yes, we add noise on purpose, and it is a
good thing. How can adding noise be a good thing?!! We add noise to make a trade. We trade a little
low-level hiss for a big reduction in distortion when moving from a floating point bit depth to a lower
fixed point bit depth container format such as 16bit. It’s a good trade, and one that our ears like. This
noise keeps the gate open while the calculations are occurring, it's an entertainment system for bored
bits.
● If you are exporting a mixdown for mastering and can only supply 24bit (also ok) or 16bit (not ideal
but possible) then it's best to use a flat/TPDF dither instead of a noise shaped dither. Flat dither is best
suitable if further processing will be applied.
● Noise shaped dither is best used only at the final mastering export stage as no further EQ will be
applied.

File types
● .Wav or .Aiff files are ideal
● Stereo interleaved
● Mp3 is not possible to work with at the mastering stage, mp3 is a final container format but not
suitable for further processing (also, try to avoid mp3 samples or youtube rips for your source
material as the quality is compromised)

File management / labelling

Make sure you label your mixes properly, this is much more important than you might think, so you can easily
understand what mixes were used for the mastering even years later. This also really helps with archiving the
project so it can be searched for later with ease.

● For example:
1. Artist Name - Track name mixdown v13 - 44.1kHz 32bit
2. Artist Name - Track name (remix1) mixdown v2 - 44.1kHz 32bit
3. Artist Name - Track name (remix2) mixdown v7 - 44.1kHz 32bit

● Or for vinyl with the running order and side splits added:
A1. Artist Name - Track name mixdown v13 - 44.1kHz 32bit
B1. Artist Name - Track name (remix1) mixdown v2 - 44.1kHz 32bit
B2. Artist Name - Track name (remix2) mixdown v7 - 44.1kHz 32bit
Fades and trimming audio
● It’s sensible to make sure that the start and end of the pre-master mixdown are the way you want
them to be, and not with too much silence before the first note or sloppy fade outs at the end (or the
audio cutting out with a click is also a common mistake, as seen in the image below.)

A subtle fade at the end would avoid a click / unnatural ending

Communication with the mastering engineer

● It’s sensible to explain to the engineer if you have concerns with your mixdown (”I just can’t get that
bassline to sit nicely”) and also tell them your desires for your master (”Please make it dynamic and
clear”). This makes it more likely that you will end up with results that you’re happy with.
● Another approach that’s useful is to send the engineer your pre-master mixdown, and ask them for
some feedback / consulting on the mixdown before mastering begins. They might tell you some useful
information like “Turn down bass guitar -2dB, boost kick high end with shelf +2dB at 12kHz, and
reduce a harsh frequency at 5543Hz on your hats with narrow Q EQ cut -4dB”. This means you can
quickly go into your project, make those changes to the mix and export a new version that’s better for
the engineer to work with without these pressure points.
● Not all engineers provide mix feedback for free, so it might be worth asking if they provide this service
before you begin. At Glowcast there is an additional charge for this service as it takes roughly 25
minutes of time.
● It's wise to make a rough reference self master version, and send that over too. This can help the
engineer better understand your desires (and also even help you become aware of mix issues during
your own quick mastering process).

Revisions
It’s recommended to also learn about the mastering engineers revision policy, in case you would like to make
adjustments to the master that they make. Some engineers offer unlimited revision until satisfaction, whereas
others charge money for revisions.

At Glowcast, revisions are free of charge on the original mixdown until the client is satisfied.

Sometimes mastering can highlight an issue that you might not have been aware of previously, so there are
times you might want to make a new mixdown after hearing the original mastering. At Glowcast new mixdowns
are charged at 50%, as it requires a re-mastering process that takes almost the same amount of time as
mastering from the beginning.
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About the author:

Conor Dalton is a Berlin based mastering engineer at Glowcast and Calyx and lecturer at Berklee
Valencia, his credits include Daft Punk, Moderat, Jeff Mills, Rodhad, Amelie Lens, John Digweed,
Kobosil, Carl Cox + Nile Rogers, Fink, Robert Hood, and many more.

Experience:
● Joao Carvalho Mastering, Toronto 2009
● Glowcast Audio Mastering 2009-Present
● Published: Music Tech Magazine worldwide
● Scottish New Music Awards: "Sound Engineer of the year" 2012
● Calyx Mastering Engineer: 2013-Present
● Lecturer at Subsine Academy, Glasgow: 2015-Present
● Lecturer at Berklee College of Music, Valencia: 2018-present
● Lecturer at Catalyst Berlin: 2018-Present
● Musician in the band Island People (Raster)
● Musician in the band Headless Chaos

Education:
● Sound Training Centre, Dublin, Music Technology: Distinction
● UWS BscHons Degree: Court medal for academic achievement
Conor's recommended plugins for mixing and mastering:
Best free plugins: 
● Analog obsession plugins, (vibe, character, functional, everything, essential!) 
● Airwindows plugins, (vibe, character, functional, everything, essential!) 
● TDR plugins, (free and amazing with option to upgrade to more features for a small amount of $, ESSENTIAL,
super clean) 
● Acustica: Coffee ThePun (free amazing Pultec style, great preamp) 
● Voxengo free bundle (worth having these versatile tools)

EQ 
● MAutoDynamicEQ (excellent capabilities and interface, check out the sonogram, wow! perfect for resonance
control) 
● Fabfilter Pro Q 3 (excellent all round, for surgical or smooth, also has automatic gain compensation) 
● TDR Nova GE (excellent dynamic EQ) 
● UAD Massive Passive (silky smooth) 
● Acustica Purple (Pultec style) 
● Acustica Cream2 (curve bender emulation, classic, warm, sparkly) 
● EQuilibrium - DMG Audio (one of the best there is, incredible) 
● MAAT - ThEQOrange (a classic, a remodel of algorithmix plugin, linear phase, SUPERBLY CLEAN) 
● Eventide - SplitEQ (control transient / sustain separately)

Compressors: 
● Kotelnikov TDR GE (clean, free version also available with less features, world class) 
● Weiss DS1 MK3 (based on the expensive hardware, hard / snappy)
● UAD Manley Vari-Mu (character, soft) 
● Unisum (incredibly transparent, world class) 
● Cream2 (warm) 
● Coral2 from Acustica (clear and controlled) 
● Magic Death Eye - DDMF (vibe, snap, power)
● Fab Filter Pro MB (Multiband Compressor, transparent, clean)
● Waves SSL comp (punchy, good for control), 

Colour 
● Acustica Celestial (SSL fusion clone) 
● Acustica taupe (tape emulation, vibe) 
● Oxford Inflator (a classic exciter, still a winner) 
● Waves J37 (vibey tape emulation) 
● Decapitator from soundtoys (An absolute classic that makes it into every mix i do) 
● Airwindows Density (colour, character, free) 
● SDRR (distortion, be careful, strong character, not subtle) 
● Airwindows ToTape5 (realistic tape emulation, free) 
● Acustica Cream2 (colour, air, vibe) 
● Tone Projects Kelvin (nice, smooth, useful)

Corrective 
● Oxford Supressr HD (good for taming a harsh frequency range or harsh vocal) 
● Oxford Transmod (helps fix over compressed material, enhances transients) 
● spiff oeksound (transient design) 
● soothe2 oeksound (corrective resonance control) 
● Izotope RX suite, (to get rid of pops, clicks and crackles and restoration, world class) 
● Softube Weiss Deess (harsh vocals or high hats controller) 
● TDR Nova GE (free or upgrade for cheap, great!) 
● Trackspacer (Side chain ducking sculpted to your frequency balance)
Limiters / Clippers 
● Weiss DS1 MK3 (also a deesser and compressor) 
● Fabfilter Pro-L2 (all rounder, clear interface) 
● Voxengo elephant (reliable, clean) 
● Sonnox limiter (aggressive, loud, good for dealing with subby and bass heavy material) 
● Waves L2 (bassy) 
● Waves L3 (linear phase multiband limiter, clean, good to use before final mastering limiter, don't overuse!) 
● Newfangled Audio - Elevate (multiband aggressive limiter, a little unpredictable but sometimes incredible) 
● AOM Invisible Limiter (punchy, clean, clear, but high risk of distortion on the wrong settings) 
● Standard Clip (great clean tool
● DMG Limitless (multiband limiter, great, confusing interface but worth learning)
 
Dither: 
● Airwindows "Notjustanotherdither" (use when you want to export 24bit, there is no graphic user interface so
when you put it on a channel it won't open, but it is working) 
● Airwindows "NotjustanotherCD" (when you want to export 16bit, there is no graphic user interface so when
you put it on a channel it won't open, but it is working)

Analysers 
● Voxengo Span (free. When you hold ctrl and use the mousewheel and click it will solo a frequency) 
● Flux Pure (shows you where your resonances are, looks great) 
● MAAT DR Meter mkII (good for getting a strong understanding of Lufs levels) 
● Ian Shepherd's "Dynameter" (powerful visual tool to show you your dynamics) 
● Youlean loudness meter 2 (Lufs, Free, ESSENTIAL) 
● MAAT 2bus control (free, check out your mono compatibility, and sides) 
● Voxengo Correlometer (check how wide certain frequencies are)

Other tools: 
● Ian Shepherd's "Perception" (Gain matching plugin, very useful for before and after comparisons) 
● Letimix "Gainmatchcontrol" (Gain matching plugin, same as above except cheaper) 
● TBProAudio AB LM (Cheap Gain matching plugin, very useful for before and after comparisons) 
● MCompare 30€ (Cheaper Gain matching plugin, very useful for before and after comparisons)
● HOFA 4U+ BlindTest (volume matched hidden comparison) 40€ 
● DR meter MKII (good for streaming requirements for metering) 

Phase correction
● Little Labs IBP Phase Alignment Tool UAD (essential, phase aligning tool) 
● MAAT RSPhaseShifter (phase aligning tool)
● Voxengo Pha-979
● Voxengo MSED

Creative plugins for colorful mix personality:

-Mishby by Freakshow industries. This company is hilarious and these plugins are serious 
-Guitar Rig 6: wow, an absolute power house to bring life into something that lacks personality / charm, this is
instant flavour and strength (Don't be fooled that it has the word guitar in the name, this is powerful for way
more than just guitars, it's useful for synths, vocals, anything that needs a new personality) 
-Portal: Granular synthesis with beautiful interface, simple to use, complex sound 
-Lovend by analog obsession (free) for FAT bottom end that will hit you in the stomach like a train
-Blackhole Reverb: big, liquid, dreamy, smooth, beautiful 
-Backmask by freakshow industries: Dystopian destroyer
-Sound toys (essential)
-Audio Damage (essential)

All in one useful tool:

●Izotope Ozone (all in one toolbox for audio mastering / mixing. (Some modules are great: Exciter, Low End
Focus, Master Rebalance) 
Want to learn more?

● Private tuition
Would you like to learn more about mixing or mastering? Would you like to take your mixing/mastering skills to
the next level? Conor is offering online engineering workshops either for single students or small classes of 2 or
3 individuals. It consists of webcam, screenshare, studio cam and high quality audio feed in 32bit PCM. This
guarantees you hands on dedicated and intensive training from your own studio. Please get in touch for more
information.

● Pre-recorded 5 hour video mastering crash course

Rather learn in your own time? I am also offering an intensive beginners course in audio mastering complete
with written notes, audio materials and 5 hours of personal video tuition from Conor Dalton about everything
you need to know to get started in your mastering journey. This video footage has never been online and is
only available from this site, the footage was recorded in 2021. Get in touch for more information.

● Global guest lecturing/mastering workshops

Conor is available to give extensive training on audio mastering to classes of people. With experience in
teaching at Berklee College of Music (Valencia, Spain), Catalyst (Berlin, Germany) and Subsine Academy
(Glasgow, Scotland). Courses could be intensive weekend crash courses or shorter guest lecturing. Please get in
touch to discuss further details.