Do I Leave The Limiter On The Mix Buss?

Tl;dr - When all else fails, send both the limited and unlimited versions of the mix.

The general consensus is to not heavily limit any mixes for a mastering engineer to receive. However, if the mix engineer mixed in to the limiter, after removing the limiter, the mix can often fall apart. This doesn’t always happen, but it can.

This is why I suggest avoiding sending mix files that have been "pre-mastered," normalized, or excessively clipped. While we understand that some plug-ins on the master buss may be integral to your creative vision, any loudness-focused processing—such as applying an L2 Limiter or similar tools—should be removed before finalizing your mix files for mastering. This ensures I have the necessary headroom and flexibility to achieve the best results during the mastering process.

If you’ve been mixing with a peak limiter or other mastering-style processing on the master fader, it’s highly beneficial to provide two versions of each mix: one with the processing so I can understand what you’re accustomed to hearing, and one without it to give us a cleaner starting point for mastering.

This applies specifically to processing on the master buss, mix file, or overall mix. Compression on individual tracks or instruments within the mix is perfectly fine. As long as the overall mix level or DAW output does not hit or exceed 0dBFS, and there is no excessive limiting or other processing on the master fader that prevents levels from exceeding 0dBFS when they naturally would, the mix levels should be suitable for mastering.