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As a label owner I can tell you how bad most of the tracks sound we get from (young) producers. They all pump up their track to the max and think they make it sound better, so they get it signed easier.
When we sign a track we always send out this sheet to the producer.
If he doesn't follow this, we can't send it to the professional mastering studio to get it properly mastered before we upload it to Beatport.
The file format which will give the best result when mastered is called a pre-master file. This is basically a clean (unedited) export from Cubase, Reason, Logic or any other type of sequencer you use.
This can be either a 32, 24 (if you record in that mode) or 16 bit wav file. Make sure the file does not clip when you are exporting from your sequencer, and also make sure the track is not maxed out by means of a compressor / limiter. If there is a compressor / limiter present on the master track of your sequencer, take it out and turn the master track volume down until playback does not clip. Ideally this will get the average volume down to about -2, -3 decibels and is meant to make sure the peaks don't actually hit the 0dB line.
The premaster will sound low on volume, but it will have enough headroom to make proper mastering possible. The louder the export gets, the more difficult it becomes to adjust dynamics. You can never restore what has already been cut off by a limiter and thus making the track louder should be the very last step right after mastering.
Thanks in advance
Hope this helps 
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www.groovecollectionrecords.com (Groovecollection, Deep, Focus, Outside The Box Music)
Dutch Prog Community >> www.groovecollection.nl
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