""We're gonna write in the studio" is music and $$ to a studio owners ears. Be prepared when you go into the recording studio. www.joemcgrath.com"

"Just like a carpenter doesn't go to work with a broken hammer, don't go to a recording session with hacked up, road weary equipment. Good sounds starts at the source. www.joemcgrath.com"

"Don't try to make your songs louder by Normalizing, adding Compression or using a Limiter. These methods prevent mastering studios from giving you the loudest, punchiest master you can imagine. Don't worry. We'll make it loud. But we need room to work. www.acmastering"

"Never go into the red on the Master Fader Meter. Going into the red means it may have already clipped, leading to digital distortion. Keeping your mixes at -3 to -6 db leaves us maximum headroom so mastering studios can give you a quality, finished product."

"Record at the highest bit rate possible. A 24 bit rate is ideal because it gives more headroom. For example: 44.1k 24 bit, 96k 24 bit, and so on. "

"When recording don't add dither. Dither is the very last step in the mastering process. It's done after all signal processing is complete. "

"When recording relax on the reverb. Reverb levels, like everything else, are heightened during mastering, so holding back a bit when you mix contributes to a superior final product"

"When mastering send songs as WAV or AIFF files, not MP3s. Just compare the file sizes between the different formats and you'll see that MP3s contain about one-tenth of the data in a WAV or AIFF file."

"Never Mix and Master at the same place. It really will help your CD to get a fresh approach from a different studio and person. Mixing and Mastering Engineers are two different specialties - no one is able to excel in the professional world in both specialties."

"You get what you pay for in Mastering - the finest equipment and the many years experience of a good mastering engineer may not be cheap but it will make all the difference in the sound of your CD. Expect to pay a fair price when it comes to mastering - You may have saved a lot of money by recording at home, but now it's your last chance to make sure your CD is up to professional spec!"