Hey Massive Master...

  • Thread starter Thread starter TelePaul
  • Start date Start date
TelePaul

TelePaul

J to the R O C
...or anyone else who's interested.

How does $100 per track sound as a rate for mastering?
 
It's not bad but at that rate they should have some pretty good gear and credits.

Budget mastering starts at about $40 per song. Midrange, indie oriented, guys charge about $800 per 10-12 song album and you can get some pretty serious names for about $1500 an album.
 
...or anyone else who's interested.

How does $100 per track sound as a rate for mastering?
Depends on who's doing the mastering and what they are mastering.

Give some mixes intended for a 500-copy CD run that'll will be mstered by somebody in their bedroom with a copy of Reaper and some VST plugs, and you're just burning your money.

If the mixes are intended for real sales and label distribution beyond your buddy who works at the local 2500 watt college radio station, and you're giving them to a real mastering engineer, then it's a fine investment.

G.
 
If you're handing in one track at $100 vs 10 tracks at $100 each, it seems a little less of a good deal.

For example (and this is really just as an example - I'm not trying to drum up business on the forum) -- I have a "single" rate at $95 (for FTP delivery). That's a lot more "per track" than a project of 10 tracks would be. Setup, paperwork, yada, yada... Fixed expenses attached per client/project. Those fixed expenses go down considerably as the length of the project goes up.

So - $100 for one track shouldn't equate to $1000 for ten tracks. Unless each track is going to be processed and billed per unit.
 
I'm with John. The rate per song should decrease as the number of songs increase. Also FTP delivery versus creating a master and mailing it should decrease overall price.

That aside, don't pick a mastering service based on price alone. Every service is going to give you different results. Find someone that you trust and can work with that is within a budget that you can afford. It may take a bit more work but you're not buying tomatoes. You're purchasing a service which will be used to represent you and your music in the best light.
 
I should have prefixed all of this by saying I'm trying to price stuff for a friend of mine - i think he's being ripped off. But I'll pass his details onto you.
 
If your friend isn't going to Massive Mastering or Mastering House, he is getting ripped off. That's how you can tell.
 
If your friend isn't going to Massive Mastering or Mastering House, he is getting ripped off. That's how you can tell.

Hear Hear. Mastering House did a project for me a while ago for and did an excellent job! price was VERY reasonable.
 
Thanks gentlemen!

In all honesty though I can't say $100/track is a ripoff or not (for a standard length CD). Big names get bigger bucks. John and I are humble folk.

Again the question really is, what does it sound like when he's done and what's it like dealing with him?
 
Back
Top