Sending your beats and sessions to artist and engineers

Since I get so many sessions that look like WTF I decided to write some some Do’s and Don’ts when sending your beats to artists. This is mostly for producers but some can be applied when sending off your session to a mix engineer. 

1. Do not send mp3’s! A mp3 is good for listening and in some cases tracking to, but once a beat has been purchased the artist needs Wav files to have the song mixed once it has been recorded. Wav files should typically be 44.1k or 48k and 24bit.
2. Each sound should be separated on its own track. This includes the kick and the snare. This will allow the mix engineer to properly mix the song. If there are 20 sounds in the beat, then the artist needs to be sent 20 different wav files. These will of course be too big to email so use a service like dropbox or wetrasfer to upload and email the files.
3. Name your files. This will make you look more professional and will make your mix engineer very happy. Even if you just label your tracks kick, snare, hi hat, etc. Its better then audio 1, audio 2, audio 3. 
4. Your tracks should have no clipping. If its hitting the red then pull it back some. Clipping in the digital world is never good. 
5. Include a a master track with your beat. This way if you full beat needs to be heard instead of playing all the wav files together the master track can be played. 
6. While we are on master tracks make sure to leave some headroom on the master track. Many sessions I get when I go to track the song the master track is so hot its pinned into the red clipping. I have to trim it down 12db just to have it at a level where I can hear the artist on top of it. 
7. Always include the BPM. Easiest way to do this is to add it to the name of the beat, or to the master track. For example mybeat1_BPM95. When its time to record having the BPM will make the engineer’s a lot easier when its time to copy a hook, or the mix engineer when they want to add delays. This also beats opening up a session just to see the BPM.
8. When moving beats and sessions from one DAW to another its best to start the song at bar 1, but the beat or music at bar 2. This will ensure if something needs to be looped it will loop properly. I’ve noticed starting at bar 1 can chop of a few milliseconds or samples of the song. Then when you go to loop it the track won’t loop smoothly. Starting at bar 2 gives your DAW 1 bar to start  up ensuring that it captures the whole start. Basically be careful of your DAW chopping off the beginning on the music before you track it out into wav files. 
9. If you can, contact the artist’s engineer and see how he or she wants you to deliver the files and if they have any special requests. This way you can get the beat to the artist’s engineer just how they like it. 
10. Ask the artist how he or she wants the arrangement to be or if they want to sequence the track on their own. Don’t assume the artist wants three 16 bars verses and four hooks. If the artist wants to sequence the track on their own then send them the 4 or 8 bar loop of each sound. Again be sure to start the music at bar 2 but export from bar 1. Then the artist can loop the track out how they please.