Fades in mastering

[wado1942]

I'm going to be mastering a project probably next month and the mix engineer sent me a couple of rough mixes to get my take on them. This is a guy who's worked with some pretty big names over the last thirty years and I know he does good work. One thing I noticed was that the fades at the ends of the songs were uneven. One channel would be a little higher than the other, but not super noticeable until the level was almost non-existent at the very end. I suggested leaving the fades for me to do in mastering and he said he's always done the fades on his end.
Was this a common convention until more recent years or does he just take a different approach from normal? I've just always been used to doing fades in the mastering. It's not a big deal since I can just compensate for the difference, but I'm just curious.

[Virtalahde]

If the mixing engineer knows how to fade, then please do the fades. If it's done on an console, it's not uncommon for the channel balance to wander around at the end. People who have been mixing for longer tend to like to do the fades themselves.

But I get really bad fades all the time. They start fine, progress fine and then just quickly cut at like -40dBFS down to zero.

[ritelec]

If he's mixing the song, sounds like he should be in control of how he hears it end???

[Jim Williams]

Being one that has done too many analog fades, I don't do that anymore.
Sure, back in the tape days, it was it. We would do crazy stuff like pay hundreds of dollars for custom, laser trimmed stereo P+G faders that would match 1/3 db during a fade out.

No matter, no hand is as steady as a machine. Jumps were common, usually from some lump of dirt on the tracks or rods. I don't miss it.

In fact, my analog console has no stereo faders anymore, I removed them and jumpered the pads with Kimber pure silver wire. Now that sounds GOOD!

Fades are done in mastering. If you want it done the way you want it done, be there or be square.

I personally love the "S" fade curves in software. So smooth, so natural, so logarithmic. So easy too. If I f*ck it up, I just move it. Beats doing an ENTIRE analog mix again just to make a better fade out.

YMMV

[Waltz Mastering]

Most mixes (95%) get sent with pre-exsisting fades.
I prefer it that way.. and will clean up tops and tails anyway.
If there are no fades,...as long as the client is specific about the start and end time, that's fine too. Haven't really experienced un-evenness between channels even though I'll often check fades on phones.

[lowland]

In addition to what's already been said, it's not uncommon for customers to provide a rough soundfile showing the general fade vibe they require, and then get me to do an equivalent in mastering - no problems so far with that.

When I was mixing I used to take a pride in getting fades just as I wanted, and sometimes I'd provide an edit piece with just the fade to the ME, so I understand the mindset.

Agree re. S curves, BTW: you can't draw fades in SADiE as in some other DAWs, you choose from a library of presets. Never been a problem for me though, especially since S curves appeared some time in v4. I usually start with S11 (a BK tip, IIRC) and see what it needs relative to that.

[Mastering7]

Fade at the end /or at the beginning of the song sometimes/ is an artistic element of the song. From technical viewpoint it is preferable to do it during the mastering process IMHO but if the artist and the mixing guy have got the idea how to do it, it's OK.