Mastering service from Website...

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dadubwa

dadubwa

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The last CD I self-produced from start to finish...yes, even mastering.
I used iZotope and soon realized I had no idea what I was doing.
I know how I play music, heck I even know how to mix!
But mastering... uh, no.


I don't wanna spend $50 a track. Although, I'm sure some of you would regard that it's worth it.
It'd be nice to spend around $200 for mastering (11 tracks). That's my budget.



What do you guys think of using a service such as....

CD Mastering - Music Mastering - Audio Mastering - Mastering (channel fuse media)
or
>>> Headroom Mastering <<< (headroom mastering)

or any others you'd suggest??



My initial thought is to send both of these companies 1 track and spent the $44, to conclude who's worth it :listeningmusic:.


What do ya'll think? Anyone use a web service for mastering?? I'd love to hear some success/horror stories.

Thanks so much!
 
Check out the first 10 or so songs on my G M P signature. These are low res (128K) MP3's of mastered files but they will give you a basic idea. They were done by Jan Ohlhorst @ finemastering.de I'm very happy with his work and will continue to send him tracks for mastering. He does stem mastering for me. He also does mixing and stereo track mastering. His name on this site is "karumba". His rates are probably too high for your budget but you did ask for success stories. :D
 
All I can tell you is that there are many reasons right off the bat to be cautious with both of them.
 
I would be cautious with anyone doing it for

"It'd be nice to spend around $200 for mastering (11 tracks). That's my budget".

That's $18.18 per song? In a mastering studio that would be about 10 mins spent on each song.

Alan.
 
There are Mastering studios which charge little and get great results. Just shop around and speak to different Mastering studios and see what is best for you.
 
I sent my first cd off to a guy who used to frequent the forums; Mastering House, who teaches sound engineering at his local community college. When I asked if he could give me a deal, he allowed one of his students to master the cd and he gave it his final blessing. I don't think he would want me to advertise his price, but it was close to your budget.

The cd itself wasn't very good; poor songwriting and recording (all on me!), but the mastering process was pretty good. The student pulled it together and got the songs to work, so I was impressed. The student got to use his system and he gave her guidance, so I felt I was getting a quality service. If you can find someone willing to do that, you might find a good deal.
 
just some general comments.
every song is special & needs to be threated individually (esp. in an album context). if properly done this takes some time. a major part of the time is: listening. if you don't listen (correctly, long enough, ...), you cannot make the right decisions. all in all mastering of a song takes me roughly 25-40 minutes. one album per day, sometimes 1,5days. it depends. there are no shortcuts, no magic algorithm/approach that makes sounding everything good in 10 minutes. these numbers correlate quite well with those from befriended mastering engineers - how long do you need on average john?

given those numbers, any mastering below 50$/song really doesn't make any sense to me. mastering needs at least 10years experience, time to listen to the material, a good & acoustically threated room, good speakers, equipment, etc. most cost-savings are drawbacks in the quality. the masterchain is only as good as its weakest part.

i don't know how much time you put into your songs. i have clients that put 1-2 years to finish their album and a "200$ mastering" would not be an option for them. so if you think your songs are worth a mastering, save the money and choose someone who really knows his job.
 
$200 for 11 tracks ... you're gonna get what you paid for and it won't be much better than using Ozone.

In this thread, there's a guy looking for more coffee. Go to his website and listen to some of his samples. Then save some money and let him master your tracks.
 
how long do you need on average john?
Click to expand...
I'd think an average of 20-30-ish minutes assuming there isn't a lot of "body work" going on. Pops and clicks and clocking errors and what not can burn a lot of time. 90% of it is done in 120 seconds. The last 10% takes the next 18 minutes (just like everything in audio).

But (the OP needs to understand that) there's a difference between the way a "real" (for lack of a better term) mastering engineer spends that 20 minutes vs. how some [mysteriously unnamed, yet highly professional and obviously very experienced - according to the web sites] engineer spends 20 minutes.

The laws of supply and demand come into play -- We (mastering engineers in general) don't "exactly" choose our rates - The market does. I've had record (no pun intended, but I'll take it) years every year since 2000. I think the last "down" year was 1998. And with the economy the way it is, I've fought increasing my rates for the last few years. But obviously, I'm going to charge somewhere in the realm of what the market will pay me. Some others are charging as little as possible because that's what the market will pay them.

And geez, I mean I really (I *REALLY*) don't understand how these guys don't name themselves... I still job out mastering (I don't mix often, but when I do, I don't master my own mixes). I hire the engineer - Not a web site. If a name is attached to it, of course, that's all good. But Chris Athens is Chris Athens whether he's at Sterling or not. Brad Blackwood is B-Rad whether he's at Euphonic or not.

That all said -- if the project is worth $200-ish to the OP, that's what THAT market will pay and he needs to find an engineer near that price point. Heck, he might actually luck out and find someone who's decent at the job.

However -- Keep that initial time thing in mind as well... 90% of the tweaking is done in a very small amount of time. You (the OP) could actually hire a $100/hour engineer for two hours to do a "digital quickie" on those mixes in a "real" place, with "real" monitoring and "real" experience ("Real" meaning trustworthy, a 'known quantity' etc.) and probably still come out ahead - sonically speaking.

I'm not trying to "throw my hat into the ring" as I'm just trying to give an example - but those kinds of things come up - frequently. "I've got $400 to spend on this - can you do anything for me?" And the answer is almost always "of course" in some manner... And certainly, it may be some sort of a "less frills" thing -- files only / no heads & tails / no spacing or what not - ready to assemble and burn your own -- or I might ask to have the files prepped a certain way (specific head length, completed fades to the long side, precise sequencing and spacing, etc. Things that save a boatload of time from the start). You can make some calls and send some e-mails. The worst you can hear is "sorry, we can't go that low, but maybe keep us in mind for your next project" or something of that sort. But you might hear "We're a little slow at the moment, so send 'em in and we'll work it out" too.

In any case, I'd rather have a "known quantity" working on something for a short time than an unknown quantity doing - whatever he's doing - for however long it takes him to do it...
 
The one web site listed has a pic of a Sony 24 track 2 inch machine in it's header ...Something you would never see in a mastering studio and raises the suspicion of wtf.
Be patient and shop around a bit.. Good luck.
 
Massive Master said:
All I can tell you is that there are many reasons right off the bat to be cautious with both of them.
Click to expand...
I'll second John's opinion on this. It looks like dodgy websites.
As others people here said - it's up to you to decide is it really worth to save few$$ and hire pro or waste your 200$ for semi/amateur.
Anyway within this price tag there's many of ...'studio' like you linked, no names, no equipment (or dodgy photoshop), no clients/portfolio, or room photos (it is not just to flush client with shiny tools - room is crucial tool for any ME), etc, etc.
This is curse of internet, unfortunately with price 15-20$ per song, I reckon 85% would be dubious 'mastering studio', but with some luck you might find someone,
good luck with it
 
I'll do all 11 for $200 and I'll even tell you how I'm going to do it!

First, I'll put a free, but decent sounding compressor on each track and compress each track a little bit.
Then, I'll put Kjaerhus' Limiter, also free, on the bounced track to bring the volume up to scratch.
Then, I'll spend the $200 on something frivolous, but fun, like good steaks and a nice bottle or 2 of some sort of Primitivo.

Now, you know I'm being facetious, but for that price you may as well do it yourself. And you'll get something that doesn't sound too bad, certainly something that sounds better than if you took Ozone and used the "Mastering" preset without playing with any of the bells and whistles in a good room with good ears. It won't sound as good as anything that a "real" mastering studio could do, but at least you'll still have the $200 and the experience.

My 2 cents.
 
HAHA some of your comments made me laugh.

Thank you guys so much for the responses, I'm going to take your advice and steer clear of these big vague company profiles.
I suppose the next step is finding someone who has more experience and a roster of clients.
 
don't be afraid to pick up a phone and contact ME,
have a chat with her/him about your project,
it's your music, baby and it is very important for you I presume,
dadubwa said:
HAHA some of your comments made me laugh.

Thank you guys so much for the responses, I'm going to take your advice and steer clear of these big vague company profiles.
I suppose the next step is finding someone who has more experience and a roster of clients.
Click to expand...
 
There are a lot websites set up to do "mastering". This is because the model of up and downloading stereo files is fairly easy as is setting up a website. With knowledge, experience and reference grade full range monitors it is possible to do good work with plug ins. This much is true. However the first stumbling block with these types of site is reference grade monitors and serious acoustic treatment, none of these places seem to have this, the pre-requisite for hearing what is actually in any given audio file, lol.

What basis do you have for action if you cannot be 100pct sure of what you are hearing ?

What is less easy is showing photo's of equipment you actually own, providing before and after clips, demonstrating years of professional audio engineering experience full time, affording mastering grade reference monitors, having a happy and large body of clients, providing real quality and value. You can whittle out the wannabees with ease, just look for the text and graphics only based websites first and those showing unrelated recording mixer pics / stock manufacturer pics, second.

cheers

SafeandSound Mastering
mastering dance music
 
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I would also post some mixes of your stuff in the mp3 forum and get feedback. There are some people with good ears that might give you feedback on whether your tracks are ready for mastering. Point out obvious eq problems, instrument level problems, etc. stuff that makes mastering take that much longer or not possible at all.
 
The other thing you will find is those charging really cheap rates for a single track like $20.00 (or less), often on similar sites as mentioned are just people who do this as a supplementary income, you are better to choose someone who does this as a full time work, not a sideline. Knowing your services earn your crust does no end of wonders for your focus and attention to detail.

cheers
 
Varrrroooooommmm




That's the sound of a drive-by. :guitar:
 
Massive Master said:
Varrrroooooommmm
That's the sound of a drive-by. :guitar:
Click to expand...
What's this?

CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-BANG-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP


A Mennonite drive-by shooting.
 
edbol said:
Massive Master... $120 / hour is a superb day rate! No wonder you're pissed off with me! I'll put my rate up... $12 / hour from now on.
Click to expand...
edbol,
that was somewhat below the belt, gnot gnice as Gnasher _1218832_gnash_150.webpwould say........
 
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