How do you "master" your tracks?

[faz]

So I have a track I've just made and I have a copy of t-racks (a friend that produces music recommended it). Am I suppose to just stick the whole song in and pick a presets or do I just do it with the loops and beats etc? I find it sometime messes up with vocals but works nice with the beat.

Edit: Just gave it a second listen and it isn't that bad :)

I've made snippets of the mastered and unmastered and want to see what people think.

Mastered (http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/7/21/139785/mastered.mp3)
Unmastered (http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/7/21/139785/unmastered.mp3)

[7x5]

Well, Faz. Personally, I don't 'master' my final mixdowns. I do understand the concept of why you would want to, to give all your tracks a more consistent sound- kind of like applying a coat of stain to woodwork. I prefer to apply whatever 'sweetening' I want to tracks individually. I find that I can control the overall sound better that way. I'm sure everybody has their own prefernces for this, though. BTW nice mix(y)

[faz]

Well, Faz. Personally, I don't 'master' my final mixdowns. I do understand the concept of why you would want to, to give all your tracks a more consistent sound- kind of like applying a coat of stain to woodwork. I prefer to apply whatever 'sweetening' I want to tracks individually. I find that I can control the overall sound better that way. I'm sure everybody has their own prefernces for this, though. BTW nice mix(y)

Thanks, just uploaded it to beastie mixes. I'm never really happy when I've finished a track, I normally need my friend (that I previously mentioned) to tell me its good to go but not spoke to him in a while.

I went with the mastered version, I dunno, I guess its like you said about the applying a coat. I, actually, quite often don't do it.

[bassdriver]

the mastered snipped sounds fine. it's a bit louder and has got a bit more highs. thats what it's about. little eq correction if necessary and getting the loudest parts of your mix close to 0 dB. compare your old mixes to the new one.