📑 Sections (3)

3. Final drum check before mastering

The kit's checklist: stray peaks, cymbal brightness, mono, audibility on small speakers and references.

One last pass before calling the drums closed. Five checks of a few minutes each, aimed specifically at what mastering amplifies instead of fixing. Do them once and move on: this list exists to close the song, not to open up more work.

The checklist

1. Stray peaks

Watch the main bus meter as the song plays and look for hits that stick out from the rest (a crash, a snare hit in a fill). If there are any, lower their velocity in the MIDI. It’s the most cost-effective check: a single peak forces the limiter to work throughout the song.

2. Cymbal brightness

Listen for two minutes straight at medium-high volume, paying attention to whether the cymbals get tiring. Mastering will bring them out, so if they already bother you now, they’ll be unbearable later. If in doubt, lower the overheads a bit or cut 2 dB between 3 and 8 kHz.

3. Mono

Sum to mono with a Mixtoolstock. Kick and snare should stay firm; the cymbals lose some width, which is normal. If something drops a lot, check for exaggerated stereo processes on the overheads or the reverb.

4. Small speaker

On a phone or laptop you should be able to follow the kick and the snare. If the kick is a dull thud, it lacks click; if the snare doesn’t appear, it lacks snap. Mastering fixes neither.

5. At low volume

Very quietly, the groove should still come across and the drums shouldn’t disappear. If they do, they’re too low in the mix.

🟠 Better to set it now· in mixing

Five checks of a few minutes on problems that mastering makes worse instead of fixing. Doing them now is cheap; discovering them after mastering means going back to the mix.

Hear what a master brings out

Just like with the bass: put a limiter at the end of the main bus, raise it until the song sounds loud, and listen to what gets exaggerated. Not to leave it there, but to diagnose.

  • If the song pumps with every kick hit, the kick is too big or has stray peaks.
  • If the cymbals get aggressive, you were too bright.
  • If the drums lose punch and sound flat, the transients were already overcompressed in the mix.
  • If the kick disappears when limited, it’s relying on sub instead of click.

Then remove the limiter and fix in the mix what you heard.

Check it with the analyzer

Load your exported mix and look at the spectrum: there should be solid low-end body (kick and bass), energy in the mids (snare, guitars) and highs that are present but not overflowing. Also check that the peak is well below the ceiling, in the headroom zone.

Recording monitor

Play a signal or load your own DI/take and look at the level and the spectrum: that's how you know whether your take was recorded well before moving on to the mix.

This is how a well-recorded take looks and measures.
  • •Level — the peak should fall in the green zone (−12 to −6 dBFS): strong, with plenty of headroom.
  • •Clip — if it touches 0 dB (red) there's digital distortion: lower the interface gain and re-record.
  • •Spectrum — a metal rhythm guitar has body in the low mids and energy at 2–5 kHz; very high “fizz” gets tamed in the mix.
Load your own DI or take to check your recording against these references.

🎧 Audio to processChoose which sound goes through the effect:

  • •🎸 Bass — a synthesized riff with dynamics: ideal for hearing compression.
  • •📢 Pink noise — an even sound across the whole spectrum: ideal for “seeing” the EQ.
  • •🎵 Load your audio — your own file (MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, M4A…); it's processed locally in your browser and isn't uploaded anywhere.

Peak level (dBFS)— ·

🟩 Ideal zone: −12 to −6 dB. Avoid touching 0 dB (clip).

References

  • Two or three songs in the style, at the same volume as your mix.
  • Compare one thing at a time: how much kick relative to the snare? How much ambience does the kit have? Are the cymbals further forward or back?
  • Listen to them on your own systems to discount what’s due to your room.

Quick path: pre-master check

Quick path

  1. Stray peaks: lower in the MIDI the velocity of hits that stick out.
  2. Cymbals: listen for two minutes; if they're tiring, lower the overheads or cut 2 dB at 3–8 kHz.
  3. Mono: kick and snare firm.
  4. Small speaker: kick and snare can be followed.
  5. Low volume: the groove comes across.
  6. Test limiter to see what gets exaggerated, then REMOVE it.
  7. Two references at equal volume.
  8. Export WAV 24/48 with peaks around −6 dBFS.

Expected result

Expected result

The drums ready for mastering: no stray peaks, just right on brightness, firm in mono, with kick and snare audible on a small speaker and holding up to a limiter without pumping or flattening. That closes the full drum journey (programming, mixing and mastering basics) and, together with the bass, the song’s rhythm section is solved.