MASTERING RATES
After finishing a mix, typically my preferred choice is to have another another set of ears on the project. For many years it was fairly feasible to send mixes off to various trustworthy mastering facilities around the globe. However, with prices continually rising, some of my mixing clients had a struggle being able to afford great mastering when the rates were nearly doubling. Paying between $100-$200 per song for mastering became further out of reach for many of my indie clients and so they would resort to finding cheaper options. Needless to say, the end result would often reflect the budget restraints.
In an effort to resolve this dilemma I decided to start taking on the roll of Mastering Engineer when clients weren't able to take their mixes to any of my recommended Engineers. This started off as a desire to offer this service as an "alternative" measure, in order to keep costs a little friendlier, and more importantly to ensure greater quality control over the alternative bugdet options. However, along the way, I ended up falling in love with the process and began taking on exclusive mastering jobs as a result.
Mastering Option 1 Per Song $45
Custom Mastering - carefully tailored to your music
*44.1kHz/16bit WAV or AIFF Digital Mastered Files
*Includes 320kbps (Constant Bitrate) MP3
*Includes 256kbps (Variable Bitrate) AAC
This is a great option when your end product is required to be of CD quality resolution. There is absolutely no cutting corners here, as your song will receive up to 2 hours of special care and consideration to dynamics, frequency balancing, stereo imaging, and overall loudness - just as it deserves. Your mastered audio will be delivered as 44.1kHz/16bit audio files or by DDP master (which can be ordered separately).
Mastering Option 2 (MFiT Compliant) Per Song $55
Custom Mastering - carefully tailored to your music
*Up to 192kHz/24bit WAV or AIFF Digital Mastered Files
*320kbps (Constant Bitrate) MP3
*256kbps (Variable Bitrate) AAC
Similar to Mastering Option 1, except special care is taken to unsure your songs are "Mastered For iTunes" compliant, which requires a bit more consideration to what happens when Apple's Codec is used for converting your music for delivery on the iTunes Store. This process incorporates a unique set of tools and overcompensates degredation that occurs during Codec conversion. This package also includes 2 revisions.
(QUICKIES)
Quicky Option 1 "Sound Better" Per Song $15
Quick Digital Template Mastering
*256kbps MP3 Delivery
Quicky Option 2 "Even Better" Per Song $25
Quick Digital Template Mastering
*320kbps CBR MP3 Delivery
*256kbps VBR AAC Delivery (MFiT Compliant)
This is a great option for do-it-yourselfers that just need to get levels up and add some sprinkles before posting their demos on their social media and streaming sites, like SoundCloud or Band Camp, etc.. Sure, they could easily pick up a couple hundred dollars in plugins or sign up for a trial version of Ozone 7 or something, but that's just not the same as having someone with a trained ear do some quick tweaks for $15 - it's a real steal, in my opinion.
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ADD-ONS
CD Master (For Replication) Per Copy $65
Quality Checked Replication Master
CD Reference Master Per Copy $15
Client Copy of Replication Master for Listening
Each master is thouroughly "Quality Checked" by listening to the entire final product (from begining to end) with high fidelity D/A converters and headphones - carefully listening to make sure the product is completely free from any glitches or errors. This is the primary reason that the first replication copy cost what it does. It's simply a "real time" process that cannot be avoided or ignored, and insures that you will not have a hundreds or even thousands of copies of your record circulating with defects.
DDP Master (For Replication) Master File $55
Quality Checked Replication Master
Similar to CD masters, DDP masters (Disc Description Protocol) are used for the exact same purpose in duplication and/or replication, however, they are much more reliable than CDs since they are not prone to the same type of errors that optical discs are typically known for. A DDP master is a digital file that contains all of the information required to replicate a CD and/or DVD master, without the need of a physical disc.
The same "real time" quality checking process is necessary for DDPs, however, there is no need to burn a phsysical CD master - only a disc image containing all the same information (audio files, appropriate sequencing, song titles, track times, CD text, space between tracks, ISRC and UPC codes, etc.)
For client approval of DDPs, you'll be provided with a downloadable link to a digitally zipped package containing both the DDP files and a custom DDP audio player, which you'll be able to use on your computer (Mac or PC) for listening to the entire product, just as you would on a CD player - fully equipped with navigation (play, pause, skip, fast-forward, rewind, scrub, etc.).
DDP masters, without a doubt, have become the most comonly accepted delivery method for replication facilities around the globe. It is also the fastest and safest method since it handled entirely through secure web transmission - without the risk of a physical copy being lost, damaged, or stolen, which could be possible via the postal servece, aka, "snail mail."
