WHY SHOULD I PAY FOR A PROFESSIONAL MUSIC MASTERING SERVICE?

   The benefits of a professional mastering service are fourfold:

  1. An unbiased set of ears to evaluate and, where appropriate, improve the overall sound of the mix.

  2. An acoustically-treated room with dedicated high-fidelity mastering equipment can reveal issues which might be overlooked in the mixing room.

  3. Ensuring consistency of tracks across the album and providing a final quality control function to bring the album inline with commercial standards.

  4. Optimizing and translating the intended sound and feel of a recording to an increasing array of playback formats and systems.

 

CAN YOU MASTER AUDIO FOR VINYL?

Yes. In some cases, depending on the musical style, a vinyl master may differ from a digital master due to the physical and mechanical limitations of vinyl. Please note that running time for a 12″ vinyl release is limited to 48 minutes (24 minutes per side).

 

DO YOU OFFER A STEM MASTERING SERVICE?

We do. However due to the additional time required to master from stems, our rates for stem mastering are higher – see here

 

CAN WE SUGGEST A SONG / ALBUM AS A REFERENCE?

Absolutely! We encourage you to include a reference to a track or album for the sound you’re looking for. It’s YOUR album, we want the album to sound exactly the way you intended it to.

 

WHAT FORMATS DO YOU ACCEPT?

We accept all digital file formats with preference for uncompressed WAV or AIFF files.

 

WHAT FORMAT MASTERS DO YOU PROVIDE?

We can provide DDP, CD-Redbook and WAV or AIFF files.

 

DO YOU MASTER FOR APPLE ITUNES?

Mastering standards for iTunes essentially require 96kHz 24-bit files without clipping. We generally master to these standards by default. However, please note that many digital distributors only accept 44.1kHz 16-bit digital files, so please let us know beforehand which distributor you intend to use - we will deliver files according their required sample and bit rate.

 

HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD WE BUDGET FOR THE MASTERING PROCESS?

Once we receive the stereo audio mix files, expect a turnaround time of 5 days.