Online Mastering

Hi Guys,

I know it's wrong...

I know for some it's a sin...

I know I can achieve the same results at home if I apply myself correctly...

I want to send my tracks off to be mastered by someone else.

Any recommendations and prices would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Ed.

Outside mastering will cost to get it done right. So I guess the main question here would be.... What do you plan to use the mastered song for? 

If it's personal use, or to post online or some other thing that is not going to pay for itself..... I don't think I would pay for mastering. 

If it's guaranteed to be signed and cut, or going on a commercial release then yes.... it's worth the money if you can not do it as good as the mastering house. 

That would be my criteria for making that decision. 

The question isn't whether or not I should be paying for mastering. The question is which places you would recommend, or suggest I steer clear of.

this is pretty unanimous

Thanks for the plugs my brothers! Much appreciated! :)

bitflipper Much as I'd love to see you throw some cash at our friend Danny, I'd really suggest that you find someone local to you, so that you can attend the session in person. You may learn something, and thus get a better value for your money. Legitimate MEs encourage clients to attend sessions, because it reduces the likelihood of do-overs if the client isn't happy with the results.

Hey now Mr. flipper....I'm a legitimate ME...I just haven't done my first gold record YET! :-Þ I'm doing lots of pre-pro for big name people....it's just a matter of time to where they say "ok, you're doing the actual album this time!" You wait....it's gonna happen! LOL!

As for your advice, if I may comment without any bias.....I think it can go either way. Sometimes what a person THINKS is right, isn't the case at all. To be honest, I absolutely hate when a client asks to come here and be a part of the session. It's like having those eyes watching over your shoulder making suggestions that sometimes don't make sense, or don't really work at all.

In my personal experience, an ME should be trusted or you don't even go to him. When I dealt with Bob Katz, I let him do his thing even though he invited me to attend the session. I was going to take him up on it, but there comes a time where I sincerely feel it is in the artists best interest to disconnect themselves from the material to the point of "what will be, will be". That album I did with Bob was one of the least stressful records I've ever done because I WASN'T married to it like I've been with other albums.

The only thing Bob had to fix for me was a corssfade. The first 4 songs segue into each other without a pause on the CD. One of the songs is in D major and I did that drop effect on it...you know, like pulling the plug out of a record player....and the object was for it to drop down to the key of G and then bang, the next song would play. Bob didn't quite get the fade between them right so this was a case of "redo" which of course would have been caught if I was there. However, for such a small error, me being there would have helped to stop it from happening, but I might have ruined other things within the album. Sometimes the best decision at the mastering stage...is to walk from it and trust it to someone that knows what they're doing.

To help with this, I have a 3 strike rule with my mastering services. You get the initial mastering procedure, then two additional fixes on the house if something is wrong. This can be 2 more complete masters of the entire album, or fixes on a few songs. Whatever the case, it's pretty fool proof because before I master a thing, I also review the material and tell the person what they may want to consider fixing before we get to the mastering stage. They of course do not have to take my advice, but it's there for them because the last thing I want to do is just take a project and make money off of it when it's in bad shape to begin with. I'd rather walk away from the job than take the pay check because at the end of the day, my name and stamp of approval is on it too. So like I say...it's pretty fool proof when we work as a team. :) But I definitely see where your coming from and would agree to an extent. :)

-Danny

Danny ....

or 


Discmakers:   http://www.discmakers.com/soundlab/   They are also a disc replication ...total package kind of place. 
Discmakers also have or had on their site some free stuff you can request. Good info  on DVD that may help you with recording and writing as well as getting your music ready to master so that they can do their best job for you. Look around the site a bit.

Danny, I wasn't suggesting you weren't legit!!!  Just that the OP is in the UK and probably can't afford to drop in at your place.

Indeed, home mastering is my fav modus operadi ... notwithstanding platinum potential?!

Can the self-ME vs. the pro-ME REALLY make the difference to my ears?


 -- I've concluded that a pro-ME sounds better 50% for my mixes, primarily the rock mixes.


 -- The ME had better be a rock-star himself, else I can not trust him for my rock mixes.  Why should a rock artist trust himself to a technician with no rock vibe?

 -- When it comes to hip-hop, trap, etc., a pro-ME really cannot do much better than Slate or Xenon limiters, imho.

 -- A pro-Me is less apt to care about YOUR instrument transients than you, unless he has recorded/performed at least some of those transients.

 -- If you take the time to mix and manually compress individual tracks, the ME plays less a role.  He might-not significantly improve things in the long run.

 -- A veteran ME is great for fixing 'my bad mixes'.  Danny Danzi has miraculously saved one 'finished' collab mix I did with Rick-NoHow, where the cantankerous sibs almost destroyed everything.  Also, Danzi will try, when feasible, to get you to fix things at the source track(s): especially timing errors, EQ-ing, serious dissonance, etc. ... so he might be more of a co-producer, than an ME.  I don't know how oft Katz would co-produce with his clients though.

 -- IOWs, a co-producer, co-artist, and partner, IMHO/JMO, is MUCH better than the best ME.  

 -- If in doubt, I'd go with Danziland (Danny) ... for a few mixes at least ... and then see if you can learn to self master the hip-hop stuff:


 -- Today's go-to 'Limiters' are probably the same for self vs. pro-ME volume maximization ... with today's 'loud' hip-hop mixes.

Vox-Elephant, 
Sonnox, 
FabFilter Pro-L, 
Slate Fx-g, or 
Xenon.  

(Not UAD Master (precision) limiter, not Ozone, and not Waves Maximizers ... since these don't seem to deal with hip-hop transient technologies so well)  

Choose one and see if you can compare to your ME (to your ears and others).
Most venders have trial versions ... and you end up paying $200 for one that you like.  Then you swear by it.  TBH, my Slate Fx-g is perfectly sufficient for my hip-hop stuff and getting things in the ball-park.

Blessings,