opinion poll: should I master my DJ set before releasing it?

[soundperson88]

Hi all,

I am a DJ and producer and I am going to release a recording of a recent set soon, and I am curious what your opinions are about the utility of mastering a set recording before releasing it on SoundCloud.

Obviously the tracks I played at the gig are already mastered so I can see the logic of just releasing the set recording as is (there is no redlining or clipped peaks, of course).

However, I can also see the utility of some light mastering using Ableton's built-in premade compressors such as "Gentle Squeeze" to give the recording that extra special glimmer and beautiful sound.

The volume across tracks is also pretty stable as I was mixing correctly and consistently, but I might want to bump certain parts of the recording to have the volume as normalized and loud but still not too compressed so as to lose dynamic range as possible.

DJ set recordings are key to helping people find me as a DJ and getting booked, so thanks for weighing in.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[hellnegative_]

I do, but it’s not a full master. I go through and make sure levels are balanced from track to track. Also adjust levels a bit during transitions. All in all, just trying to make sure the listener has a uniform experience throughout the entirety of the mix.

[Tarekith]

I don’t tend to master my DJ mixes, just a bit of normalization to get the whole mix peaking around -0.5dB. Like you said, the tracks have already been mastered, and especially with EDM I find that adding more limiting or compression rarely makes things sound any better.