Mastering

In terms of enquiries we’ve had over the years, we’ve found that Mastering is very often confused with mixing.  We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve been asked to quote on a Mastering job, and it turns out that the client actually needs their music mixing first.  

So in the interest of clarity, here’s a brief explanation as they’re very different.  Rather than dealing with multiple raw untreated audio tracks, and tasked with creating a balance between them (ie mixing),  Mastering comes next as the final stage in the art of music making, and it only deals with that final stereo mixdown, whereupon it’s given the final polish it needs.  

This is done by removing any remaining noise or harshness, tightening the low bass frequencies, and improving the overall width of the stereo image.  It can also include editing the ‘top & tail’ of your mixes, which will help to make songs flow from one into another nicely, if you’re doing multiple.  But perhaps most importantly these days, it’s the process of setting the correct perceived overall loudness.  This is in order to ensure that (in the context of an E.P or album for example), the level between the songs is cohesive, but is also to ensure that the maximum volume level is as loud as it can be, so that your music stands up with everything else out there in the world.  Whether it’s being cut to vinyl, played on the radio, or streamed across the web, it’s essential that proper mastering is done for that specific purpose.

We do this by importing your already-mixed piece into our software and applying whatever treatment is needed, and can even ‘warm up’ your mix by running it through our varied array of analogue equipment if needs be.

Mastering is charged by the song and depending on which engineer you’d like to do it.  In all cases the rate goes down the more you have done in a session.

Prices start at £60 per song

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