Mixdown's are WAY TOO QUIET!

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 7:05 pm

I understand the need to give clients "loud" mixes even if they aren't mastered ones. It depends on the maturity level of the client, but on the whole I'd say inexperienced rock musicians generally think that loud equals better. They don't care if there's distortion or clipping, it's all about volume because they listen to all of their favorite •••• at jet plane volumes as well.

So, my suggestion is, get some software like T-Racks or Izotope Ozone that has some mastering "presets". Export your stereo mix from Performer as a 24-bit file, load it into one of these mastering apps, call up one of the "loud" presets and tweak it a bit, then process the file and export it as a 16-bit file to a folder on your desktop. Use the files in that folder to burn a CD for your clients. Believe me, they won't care about whether it's mastered or not - they just want to play it for their family and buddies and post it on myspace.

Then go back to the stereo files you exported from DP - the ones which weren't run through your "mastering" app. Those are the files you send to the mastering house.