Mastering

We have recently begun offering a mastering service for singles, EPs and full albums.

A brief introduction to mastering (if you’re not already familiar):

Primarily, mastering pulls together a selection of separate recorded & mixed songs to make them sound like a single body of work when played back in a particular order, as an EP or album for example. The volume levels of one song may be quite different to another and so these levels all have to be balanced out so the listener hears an even body of work from start to finish, with consistent EQ and volume levels. The mastering engineer also tries to enhance the mixes, bring out more of particular frequencies in order to boost the impact of the finished piece of work as a whole. While the individual tracks of the songs are already mixed down and locked, the frequencies across the entire mix can still be altered to some degree, gelling it all together to make for a much more satisfying and unified listen.

On a more practical note, mastering is also necessary if an artist wishes to manufacture CD or vinyl, as the physical process of making these copies requires a master to be sent to the manufacturing plant with the tracks not only EQ’d evenly, but in the correct order, with the correct spacing between each track. There are also details embedded in the files (metadata) such as song titles, artist name, length of track etc. which comes up on someone’s CD player or MP3 player on playback.

If only releasing digitally, an artist might still want to consider mastering their mixes, as mastering tends to raise the general volume of a track making it sound more consistent when played next to other releases e.g. on Spotify playlists or the radio.

If you would like to have us master something for you we will need the following:

• Final mixes
• Recording titles
• The running order of the recordings & lengths of gaps between each track
• Formats required (CD, Vinyl, Digital)
• ISRC codes for each recording
• Any additional information e.g. specific time between tracks / any added sounds to be added between tracks
• Metadata (CD text)

Rates:

An album can usually be mastered in a day in Studio 1. The rate for this is £400 + VAT.

If the album is to be manufactured on CD, a separate DDP file will be required. This is an extra £50 + VAT.

An EP of 4 tracks would take more like half a day so the rate is £200 + VAT.

Less tracks can be mastered at a rate of £50 + VAT per track.

Please contact us if you’d like to discuss booking a mastering session.