Mixing with Mastering in Mind 2 ( BY BOBBY OWSINSKI )

Watch your fades. If you trim the heads and tails of your track too tightly, you might

discover that you’ve trimmed a reverb trail or an essential attack or breath. Leave a

little room and perfect it in mastering, where you will probably hear things better.

■ Document everything. You’ll make it easier on yourself and your mastering person

if everything is well documented, and you’ll save yourself some money too. The

documentation expected includes any flaws, digital errors, distortion, bad edits,

fades, shipping instructions, and record company identification numbers. If your

songs reside on hard disk as files, make sure that each file is properly IDed for easy

identification (especially if you’re not going to be at the mastering session).

■ Alternate mixes can be your friend. A vocal up, vocal down, or instrument-only mix

can be a lifesaver when mastering. Things that aren’t apparent while mixing sometimes

jump right out during mastering, and having an alternative mix around can

sometimes provide a quick fix and keep you from having to remix. Make sure you

document them properly, though.

■ Check your phase when mixing. It can be a real shock when you get to the mastering

studio, the engineer begins to check for mono compatibility, and the lead singer or

guitar disappears from the mix because something in the track is out of phase. Even

though this was more of a problem in the days of vinyl and AM radio, it’s still an

important point because many so-called stereo sources (such as television) are either

pseudo-stereo or only stereo some of the time. Check it and fix it before you get there.