When submitting your music for mastering, please consider the following:

• COMMON MISTAKE:
  Do not submit mixes that look like rectangle blocks on your computer screen! (flat tops. one giant turd.) Hyper loud is not the goal. It means a good part of the dynamic range has been lopped off, never to come back again. It is that same dynamic range that provides punch and excites analog compressors. I have four that are virtually useless if you limit, clip, shred etc. It is a disservice to your music and all the effort put into the recording and mixing. (Remixers included!) There are some acceptations that we can talk about. If you slam just so it's as loud as everything on your ipod, then keep it that way on your end, but submit the same mixes without this final push for mastering -- at 24bit of course. I can make it as loud as you want. That's one of the reasons you've hired me!
  
  
• Mix each song to 24bit, stereo interleave. Leave the sample rate the same as the mix session. (44.1khz minimum) 16bit / 44.1khz CD audio is also acceptable.
  
  
• Be sure you are 100% happy with the mix-down. Mastering magnifies and clarifies a mix. This can be very revealing and sometimes sobering. If a track is remixed after it's mastered it is considered new material and adds to the total cost of the master. Mastering revisions applied to an existing mix is included in the price.
  
  
• Render each song to it's own track and include the track number as the file name prefix.
  
  
• Email (or print) the title of the album, title of the band, the track titles and ISRC if applicable.
  
  
• Provide song title and working titles, along with the final track order. If track order is undetermined then please identify the most likely tracks that will open the record.
  
  
• Spacing and transitions. If you have specific requests then please render the album as one long MP3 and include the spacing, crossfades, fade in / fade out exactly as you'd like the master to play. Once complete I will align the mastered version with your MP3 version and recreate what you've done.
  
  
• Do not submit MP3's for mastering.
  
  
• Apply minimal compression and limiting across the stereo mix. Compression and limiting cannot be reversed and is the quickest way to paint any mastering engineer into a corner. Please use compression and limiting judiciously.
  
  
• If you've been experimenting with mastering please provide a version (in addition to the master mixes) of your master you are most happy with. Even if it doesn't sound right or is done improperly, it will still help me understand the sound you're looking for. You're also welcome to include commercial samples as a point of reference.