The 8 Hour Difference! Make Your CD Sound

Starting to sound good!


Use the menu below to go to the different sections of our audio mastering information, or scroll down to read through each section sequentially.


Part 1: Introduction to Audio Mastering

Audio mastering — Why is it so important? How can mastering help?

Every major record label recording project goes through the process of mastering.

Even with the best recording engineers and the most expensive studios, mastering adds a dimension of sound quality that is essential for commercial success.

Mastering is a second opinion. it is bringing your record to someone you trust who can listen to it with fresh ears.

Many recording engineers develop long-standing relationships with mastering engineers who they know they can count on to maximize the potential of their recordings.

Mastering is the difference between ending up with something that sounds good (but is ultimately flawed in some way: too muffled, too bright, too boomy, too grainy, too splashy, etc.) and something that sounds thoroughly professional (effortless, spacious, balanced, detailed, powerful, dynamic, engaging).




Part 2: Audio Mastering Q&A's

Q. What is mastering?

A. Mastering is the last chance you have to improve the sound quality of your project before the CDs are pressed. Mastering is the difference between ending up with something that sounds good but is ultimately flawed in some way (too muffled, to bright, too boomy, too grainy, too splashy, etc.) and something that sounds thoroughly professional (effortless, spacious, balanced, detailed, powerful, dynamic, engaging).

Q. Am I involved in the mastering process?

A. Certainly! We want you to be as involved in mastering process as possible. It is your project after all, and we want to make sure that you're completely happy with the final sound.

Q. How does it work?

A. Usually what happens is we have a discussion with you regarding your priorities and budget and the kind of sound you're looking for, and we'll work within those parameters to get the best possible results. References of other CDs are important to ensure that we're on the same wavelength as to the kind of sound you want for your project. So spend some time with your CD collection listening for CD's that sound great.

Q. How much does professional mastering cost?

A. How much it costs depends on the project, how happy you are with the mixes and what your objectives are for the final product. Generally speaking most of our clients are budgeting between $350 and $950 for mastering. We usually agree on a budget ahead of time, and what we'll be setting out to do in that amount of time. And remember, revisions are free!

Q. How many hours does it take to master a CD?

A. Some of the variables which go towards determining how much time we'll want to spend on a project are:

The style of music

The quality of the recording and mixes

Your expectations and requirements for the quality of the final result

How consistent the mixes are from song to song

Audio problems that may need to be addressed (noise, clicks, distortion etc.)

How many songs or tracks are on the CD

The budget available for mastering

As a general rule of thumb, for best results we're usually looking to spend about an hour per track to optimize and make the most out of each individual song. However, if the mixes are very consistent we can get excellent results in less time. It is quite common to spend 8 hours on an album. If the budget is really tight and the songs are very consistent sonically we can get good results from an overall mastering process where the entire album is essentially processed under one overall setting on the mastering equipment to optimize the sound. That is the quickest and least expensive method for mastering, and is usually based on 4 hours of studio time.

Q. How long will you take to master my project?

A. We're usually working on a 3-5 working day turnaround time.

Q. What kind of speakers do you use in the mastering studio?

A. PMC IBIS 3-way midfields. The speakers, together with our audiophile grade Classé D/A converter, Proceed power amplifier, Weiss de-jitter unit, and Meridian source switcher make up our monitoring chain.

Q. What kind of processing equipment do you use?

A. Tube gear from Manley, digital gear from Weiss and TC Electronic, plug-ins and other odds and ends.

Q. What computer software do you use?

A. We use the SADiE mastering system. Most top mastering studios use either SADiE or Sonic Solutions workstations.

Q. What format can I submit my master on?

A. Audio CD-R, .wav files or aif files on CD-ROM, DAT, 1/4" analog tape, vinyl, minidisc, mp3 or cassette.

Q. Can I e-mail or ftp my masters to you?

A. At this time we require a physical master. (The size of high resolution digital audio files is usually too large to make electronic transfer practical).

Q. "I know a guy who will master our CD for $100" Is this a good idea?

A. With the advent of inexpensive computer audio systems, there are many people out there who "also do mastering". Music mag ads claim that you can achieve professional mastering results with nothing more than some new "wonderbox" or software plug-in. We have redone countless albums which were "mastered" in this fashion. We have numerous clients who have been down this route once and swear "never again".




Part 3: Dos and Don'ts of Audio Mastering


Don't try to master your project yourself. A good mastering engineer is a fresh set of ears. Not to mention a fresh set of expensive, full range speakers, and specialized processing equipment designed to take your project to another level of sound quality.

Do try to mix down to the highest resolution possible. A 24-bit mix always sounds better than 16-bit, even if the source tracks were recorded at 16-bit. In the mastering studio we have specialized tools and dither to get the most out the 16-bit audio CD format. Wherever possible try to avoid 16-bit in the recording stage.

Don't forget to listen through carefully to your master before you send it in. Many times in the rush to get in out the door, you may not notice that glitch or technical problem.

Do send in a reference CD or two with your project. This helps the mastering engineer to get a really good idea of the kind of sound your looking for for your project. Talking about music is kind of like dancing about architecture.

Don't let the guy who mixed your project master it. A mastering engineer hears your project the way your public hears it - without any preconceptions. That initial impression is vital because in that instant the mastering engineer identifies what can be improved about your sound. Once somebody's heard the mix a few dozen times they can no longer be objective about it and have lost the ability to formulate that all too valuable "first impression".

Do make liberal use of reference CDs while you are mixing. Periodically throw a great sounding CD into the CD player and compare your mix to it. This will help your ears remain objective. Your mixes will improve the more you do this.

Don't try to second guess your monitor speakers. If you know the speakers you're mixing on are a little bass-shy or bass-heavy, for example, don't try and second guess them. Just make your mix sound as good as possible in the studio, even if it sounds a little off in the car. A linear frequency shift is usually an easy thing to correct for in mastering.

Do make alternate mixes, especially "vocal-up" mixes. It only takes a couple of minutes to run another mix with the vocal up a bit, but it can save you (and us) from the ordeal of trying to "fix it" in mastering.

Don't run your mix through a limiter to make it louder. It's okay to do this to the client copy. But for the mix that you send in for mastering, the "un-squished" sound that you were hearing while you were doing the mix will always yield better results.




Part 4: Prepping Your Recording for Audio Mastering

Tips on preparing your project for the mastering process

Here are some suggestions on how to get the best results out of the mastering process:

When you send in your master for mastering, provide a track sheet listing the artist name, project title as well as the start times, end times and duration of each song. Also, jot down any instructions you may have for the mastering engineer.

If you are mixing down to DAT, record all your DATs at 44.1 kHz.

Record one to two minutes of silence at the beginning of each tape.

Make sure that the DAT has A-time (absolute time) throughout and start IDs at the beginning of each track.

Leave 1-2dB of headroom on your DAT. Overs are difficult and time- consuming to fix and the meters on many DAT machines are imprecise. The headroom will be made up transparently on the final master.

When mixing, use a quality commercial recording in a similar style as a reference. This will enable you to keep perspective and achieve greater tonal balance & clarity in your mix.

Don't risk doing manual fades at mixdown. Good fades are quick and easy to do during mastering.

Once your mix is in the digital domain (i.e. on DAT) keep it there. Further D/A and A/D conversions will adversely affect the clarity and quality of your sound.

Do not EQ, compress or otherwise process your stereo mix. This type of processing is best done at the mastering stage. If you do process your mix, bring copies of the unprocessed versions with you to the mastering session so that the engineer can go back to them if necessary.

If you're using a digital editor to compile your project, use it just for that don't use it for adjusting volume levels, processing, doing fades, normalizing or dithering. Every time you process and then return to 16 bit audio you will get increased graininess, loss of resolution and digital coldness. The only way to get around this is to do all the digital processing in one step at a minimum of 24-bit signal resolution.

If you haven't followed all of these guidelines, don't worry: there are ways to fix almost any kind of audio problem. That's what mastering is all about - making your recordings sound as good as possible.

Check out our Mastering Packages.