What's the process behind tuning our analytes to the mass spectrometer’s optics? And why is that so important?

Before we get into our extractions, we need to set up our LC/MS to detect our analytes of interest. The LC will provide the chromatography - or separation of our analytes - and the MS will support detection. So which one do we evaluate first? Well, if you can’t “see” the analytes, what good is perfecting their chromatography? So, first, let’s get the MS focused, or tuned, for optimum analyte detection.