I know this is a very broad question. But what I'm wanting to know is what difference should there be in an unmastered track vs mastered?
If you were to listen to a pre-master, would/should you be able to tell? I understand it will give a sense of gluing the mix together, but how full-sounding and glued does a pre-master have to sound?
I've noticed that when my tracks have nothing on the master, my drum transients can be a tiny bit too punchy - I wouldn't say harsh, just if I push the volume I can't stand them in headphones. But when I put my mastering chain on, that goes away. They sound just as good but tolerable at high levels. My mix isn't badly mixed, it just sounds kinda raw. That's the only way I can describe it. I have enough processing on my elements with them all grouped, so I'm just wondering whether it's normal for tracks to sound like that.
I think I'm just more concerned about this question for sending stuff to labels.
Submitted October 09, 2017 at 02:46PM by RXYtree https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/75asaj/what_should_a_premaster_sound_like/?utm_source=ifttt