Difference between a reference and production master

C

Canobliss

New member
We are using one of the big guys in Hollywood to master our album. On top of the very large hourly fee they charge $500 for the production master. What is the difference between the production master and the much cheaper reference CD? and is it necessary? We will be using ISRC codes so im guessing that is part of it.

Thanks!
 
$500 for the production master...?

I'd hope you could assume that the disc is thoroughly checked (errors, BLER, etc.), and listened through at least once by the engineer.

That's all pretty typical and takes maybe an hour+ for a 40 minute disc.

If it's a $500/hr shop, there's the $500.

If it's not, that seems awfully pricey...

The reference disc, assuming the audio data is the same, might be whipped out at 32x or something, probably not error-checked, certainly not listened to.
 
its a 350/hr studio but 500 seems to be the standard for a production master by the big mastering studios in the socal area. So i guess i guess its just paying to assure that you have a flawless disk to manufacture from. Guess we gotta do it.
Thanks Massive Master!
 
Would assume that the cost is for critically listening to the entire master for issues. Error checking is usually done through software like Plextools or something along the lines of a Clover system and shouldn't justify a $500 price tag. ISRC codes can also be easily checked through software.
 
Canobliss said:
they charge $500 for the production master. What is the difference between the production master and the much cheaper reference CD?
Click to expand...

The production cd is the master that you would send to the plant for replication, where the ref is basically a cd ref for the client to check/listen through.

What do they charge per reference cd?

The final bill will probably end up around $2200 - 3000 which is typical for someone like Grundmen or Sax or their East coast counterparts.
 
I believe the reference CDs are $50. Its with Eddy Schreyer at Oasis. The estimate is around 2300 for 11 songs, 50 mins which seems about standard. I looked into grundmen for our last album and he was around 5000 which is a little rediculous.

thanks for the help.
 
By the way, the mastering engineer explained to us that the production copy is the master copy, to be sent out for printing the CDs. The reference copy is merely a copy of the production CD. It is made to demonstrate that the production copy can be copied without errors, and sounds good when played back. It only takes 5 minutes to make the reference copy, as all your doing is burning a copy from the master one.
 
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