Preparing your mix for mastering
When you have finished the production of your song, you will notice that it is still quieter than all the other songs released out there. The reason behind it is that your song isn’t mastered yet. The mastering process will put the final touches and polish to your song in terms of sonic characteristics, and it will be mastered to a loudness standard. This is also a standardization process, so your song will be able to compete with other songs on streaming platforms, DJ sets, and radio, and you will have the appropriate formats for however you desire to release your song (vinyl and digital formats). The mastering stage is also where metadata is applied to your song.
However, an incorrectly prepared mix can limit what the mastering engineer can do. Mastering engineers work with the stereo bounce of your track, and they will not have access to your production project file, so you need to make sure the mix is exported correctly and there is enough...