Mastering Fees

S

sonicpsyops

Culture Of Convenience
Well, since that idea I had about becoming a famous Rock star never really panned out, some musicians/artists have been contacting me about mixing and/or mastering their tracks. I'm not sure why. The only mixing mastering credentials I have is my music posted on the Internet on various music sites. Nowhere do I claim to be a professional studio engineer. I'm not sure how to proceed.

I guess I could turn this into an income generator but what do you base your fees on? Some artists just want me to master their audio tracks, others want me to actually arrange, produce, engineer, mix and master their tracks.

So what criteria do you use to base your fees on?
 
What you think you are worth based on your abilities and what you think the market will allow.

Check a couple of other places, see what their rates are and charge accordingly. ...or more!
 
mixmkr said:
What you think you are worth based on your abilities and what you think the market will allow.

Check a couple of other places, see what their rates are and charge accordingly. ...or more!
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You know I was just talking to a friend and he does web design on the side and it nothing special no flash, no backend database, so I asked him what he charges and he said $25 hour and a site will take anywhere from 40-80 hours, anyway just stared me thinking why are so many people mastering for peanuts, I think it's getting to be a downward spiral and it could get to the point where people won't think of it as a valued product anymore, so I say charge more and give them good reasons why you charge more!
 
I read an interview with a company that mastered online in Canada and made a pretty good living out of it with a set up that is probably more basic that 80% of the folks here and software that is readily available, and even dismissed by some of our more experienced members...

Obviously the guy has experience and a good listening environment but he started somewhere too...

you may just have an ear for it...good luck with the venture
 
sonicpsyops said:
Well, since that idea I had about becoming a famous Rock star never really panned out, some musicians/artists have been contacting me about mixing and/or mastering their tracks. I'm not sure why. The only mixing mastering credentials I have is my music posted on the Internet on various music sites. Nowhere do I claim to be a professional studio engineer. I'm not sure how to proceed
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I suggest that you start out by asking the potential client to name the price. Whether it's $10 or $100, take it, and use the opportunity to build up your skills* and resume. Then after a few of those, you'll be able to determine two things: a) just how much you're actually worth, and 2) just how much you need to charge to make it worth your while. As long as a) is as much or more than 2), you're in and ready to both continue and know what to charge to do it.

* It's important to remember that "skills" don't just mean mixing and mastering skills, but are going to include marketing skills, customer relation skills, business management skills and the like. Some of the better engineers I have known have never been successful with their own studios because they simply didn't have the business skills.

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
* It's important to remember that "skills" don't just mean mixing and mastering skills, but are going to include marketing skills, customer relation skills, business management skills and the like. Some of the better engineers I have known have never been successful with their own studios because they simply didn't have the business skills.

G.
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This Glen can not be over stated enough!.!




:cool:
 
And the other side of that coin are the huge number of shysters out there who couldn't engineer their way out of a paper bag, yet who are successful because they know how to feed cow chips to their customers and convince them that it actually tastes like beef Wellington. Most (not all, but most) of those like those Canadian guys described earlier fall into that category.

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
And the other side of that coin are the huge number of shysters out there who couldn't engineer their way out of a paper bag, yet who are successful because they know how to feed cow chips to their customers and convince them that it actually tastes like beef Wellington. Most (not all, but most) of those like those Canadian guys described earlier fall into that category.

G.
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you know the Canadian company I mentioned?
 
Bob Ludwig Charges around 5500$ a record as long as you stay under that you should prosper:D
 
kcearl said:
you know the Canadian company I mentioned?
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I said most companies like the one described, meaning most companies of that description. I said and meant nothing about that particular company (or probably most likely a sole proprietor).

And before you take you usual false tack that I'm just some establishment prick prejudiced against the little guy - completely ignoring the fact that I am a little guy also, BTW - don't stab the messenger. It has nothing to to with "the little guy", nor does it have anything to do with my personal opinion. It has everything to do with the fact that "online mastering" is a business, like aluminum siding sales, insurance, and Nigerian lotteries that is filled with scam artists because of a combination of a lack of regulation and a lack of customer education. That is a FACT.

It's the legit "little guys" - and yes we ARE out there - who wind up suffering because of the huge amount of taint in the business from the large amount of shysters. I'd rather fight to protect us by attacking the shysters than to just let the shysters get away with giving us a bad name.

But then again, what do I know? My years in the industry pale compared to someone who has read some online article somewhere about one guy somewhere.

And BTW, do YOU know the company you mentioned?

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
I said most companies like the one described, meaning most companies of that description. I said and meant nothing about that particular company (or probably most likely a sole proprietor).

And before you take you usual false tack that I'm just some establishment prick prejudiced against the little guy - completely ignoring the fact that I am a little guy also, BTW - don't stab the messenger. It has nothing to to with "the little guy", nor does it have anything to do with my personal opinion. It has everything to do with the fact that "online mastering" is a business, like aluminum siding sales, insurance, and Nigerian lotteries that is filled with scam artists because of a combination of a lack of regulation and a lack of customer education. That is a FACT.

It's the legit "little guys" - and yes we ARE out there - who wind up suffering because of the huge amount of taint in the business from the large amount of shysters. I'd rather fight to protect us by attacking the shysters than to just let the shysters get away with giving us a bad name.

But then again, what do I know? My years in the industry pale compared to someone who has read some online article somewhere about one guy somewhere.

And BTW, do YOU know the company you mentioned?

G.
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well

"Most (not all, but most) of those like those Canadian guys described earlier fall into that category."


is what threw me and sounded pretty accusatory..


I was just surprised at the success of his business with such a small amount of equipment, though it wasnt a recording studio..and the fact that he used T racks as some of the software..which Ive heard many old timers refer to as T wRecks..

No stabbing the messenger, not calling you a prick

and no I dont know them, why would I? Ive never sent anything to be mastered...
 
sonicpsyops said:
Well, since that idea I had about becoming a famous Rock star never really panned out, some musicians/artists have been contacting me about mixing and/or mastering their tracks. I'm not sure why. The only mixing mastering credentials I have is my music posted on the Internet on various music sites. Nowhere do I claim to be a professional studio engineer. I'm not sure how to proceed.

I guess I could turn this into an income generator but what do you base your fees on? Some artists just want me to master their audio tracks, others want me to actually arrange, produce, engineer, mix and master their tracks.

So what criteria do you use to base your fees on?
Click to expand...

Since you are just starting out and admit to not having a lot of experience, you'd probably want to test the water on the low side of the scale.

Pricing for mastering can be all over the map. What someone charges directly relates to what someone is willing to pay for your service.

The level of quality and experience comes into play in providing the client with something that they are satisfied with in terms of value vs. price.

Myself, I have quoted rates on my web site, but also use a sliding scale to work within a client budget limitations based on how busy I am.

In this market mastering rates from someone somewhat respectable can range anywhere from $350 to $5500 for a full album.

I've seen kids working out of a basement just starting out offering super low rates. Sometimes but not always you get what you pay for, but I would try to get as much real world experience as you can and keep pluggin away (no pun intended; ). Try to make each project count and gradually raise your prices as your expertise and the demand for your service increase.
 
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