Quote Originally Posted by acos1 View Post
cool man cheers! and would it be common for u to send them all the parts of the track so they can individually treat them or would it just be the whole track itself?
Not a good idea, they wouldnt deal with mix downs, thats up to you to get sounding right im afraid.

the reason why im asking cos my method of producing/mastering is to parallel compress every element in the track then mix the track down to -3db and then just bring up the overall level from there with compression etc.
Over compression can be a very bad thing, it sucks the life out of your tracks by destroying the dynamics. I believe compressors should only be used for a reason and not as a neccessity, and usually decent subtractive EQing will do wonders for a track as opposed to squezing it to death with endless compressors and limiters.

I will usually use a sidechain on my kick and bass with some compression for the pump effect. But i rarely use compressors on anything in the mid to high range unless there is a reason to. Subtractive EQing and Stereo placement really make the difference in the higher ranges, and then you can ruin all this by wacking a brickwall limiter on it and killing all your good work. As long as your track sounds clean, balanced and defined, then you really should have no problem. Oh, and make sure sub bass is kept in mono if its getting pressed to vinyl.