Quick question about EQ an Mastering

Hey all,

 

Newbie here with a quick question. My 1st track is finally mixed. My question is this. Do I need to add EQ "before" I send my song out to be mastered, or does the mastering engineer typically do this? Since this is my first song, I'm not sure what process to take. From reading posts it looks like EQ is something the mastering engineer does.

 

What should I do? Should I EQ before sending out my song? Any advice would be greatly appreciated:)

 

Much Love,

 

OQ

Once the track is mixed, don't touch it and send it as is (no EQ, no compression...) to your mastering engineer.

 

The reason you are hiring a mastering engineer to master your track is because you trust his ears, and his equipment to do a better job than you could by yourself and with your equipment. No point starting the job yourself and thus limiting his possibilities down the road.

 

I vote for no EQ.

I AGREE ,WE MIX THE SONGS DO ALL THE EQING , THEN SEND THEM AS RAW A POSSIBLE. THEN GO TO BERNIIE GRUNDMANS (BIG BASS BRIAN) AND THEY DO THE REST.

JUST MIX YOUR SONGS , THEN SEND RAW

Perfect guys, that makes total sense.

 

Much appreciated. I'm probably going to do 2 versions. One for me to mess around with so I can see what I can do.

 

Again thanks for the quickie replies!

 

OQ

Perfect guys, that makes total sense.

 

Much appreciated. I'm probably going to do 2 versions. One for me to mess around with so I can see what I can do.

 

Again thanks for the quickie replies!

 

OQ

 

Also, keep the overall dB level to -3 or below, so the mastering engineers have headroom for the final compression. --Kent

Hey Kent,

 

When you say keep the overall db to -3db, do you mean on each individual track in the arrange window, or the actual master fader?

 

OQ

Hey Kent,

 

When you say keep the overall db to -3db, do you mean on each individual track in the arrange window, or the actual master fader?

 

OQ

 

The total sum so that the mastering engineer has headroom. It's worth also telling her/him if you want a brick-wall compression (like most modern dance music), or if she or he should get easy and let more dynamics in. Sometimes it's good mentioning a reference track so they get it by listening to it.

 

But you should *not* run a limiter on the master taking it all down to -3dB, that defeats the whole purpose, rather mix down, or mix sub-groups down. Logic is also neat with the feature of selecting all volume sliders for all tracks, and by decreasing one the others will follow along with the same decrement.

 

--Kent

Hey Kent,

 

Thanks again for your response. Okay so what I am getting from you is to go to each individual track/instrument, and make sure the output does not exceed -3db. Is that correct?

 

what about the master fader? Do I go to that as welll and make sure it doesn't exceed the -3db.

 

Sorry for not understanding your post, but what I am saying above I think is what you told me to do. Clarify if I'm wrong...

 

Thanks for your help Kent..as well as others

 

OQ

Hey Kent,

 

Thanks again for your response. Okay so what I am getting from you is to go to each individual track/instrument, and make sure the output does not exceed -3db. Is that correct?

 

what about the master fader? Do I go to that as welll and make sure it doesn't exceed the -3db.

 

Sorry for not understanding your post, but what I am saying above I think is what you told me to do. Clarify if I'm wrong...

 

Thanks for your help Kent..as well as others

 

OQ

We are talking about a master, the total sum, i.e. what's the final output of all the channels. --Kent

Okay Kent, thanks a bunch.

 

OQ