Audio mastering

01When mastering makes sense

Mastering is worth it as soon as your music goes public: a single on streaming services, an EP for the merch table, an album on vinyl or a song heading to radio or a playlist curator. It also helps if you mixed it yourself, because after weeks on a song you get used to its quirks. A mastering engineer hears them with fresh ears.

Mastering cannot fix a mix. If the vocal is too quiet or the kick disappears into the bass, a master can only do so much. When we hear problems like that, we tell you plainly and suggest adjusting the mix first, for example through our music mixing service.

02What to send

• Stereo mixes as WAV or AIFF at the original sample rate, 24-bit or higher;
• no limiter or loudness plug-in on the master bus, with peaks well below 0 dBFS;
• a little silence at the start and end, so we can set the fades ourselves;
• the running order, and whether transitions should be tight, spaced or seamless;
• which formats you need a master for;
• the ISRC code for each song and, for a CD, the titles and artist names exactly as they should appear.

If you have a reference, such as an earlier release of yours or a record by another artist, include it. It gives us a concrete sense of the loudness and tone you have in mind.

03Loudness for each platform

Streaming services play music back at their own normalised level. A master pushed to extreme loudness is simply turned down there, while the dynamics it gave up are gone for good. That is why we look less at how loud a master is and more at how it sounds once a platform has adjusted the volume.

We set the loudness according to where your music will mostly be heard and to your genre: an acoustic singer-songwriter album needs something different from a club track. Our guide on master formats and loudness explains integrated loudness, true peak and why louder is not automatically better.

04Formats and what you receive

For vinyl we take the running time of each side into account: the longer a side, the lower the level it can carry. So talk the running order through with us early. Once your test pressing arrives, you can have it played back here and we will go through what you hear together.

05Treating an EP or album as one record

With an EP or album we do not treat songs in isolation. Loudness between tracks has to feel natural: a quiet ballad can sit lower than the opener, but not so low that listeners reach for the volume. We also match the tonal balance, especially when songs were mixed in different studios or by different people.

We shape the transitions as well: the length of gaps, the decay of a final chord and any seamless segues between songs. The EP package covers up to 4 songs, the album package up to 12.

06Revisions and sign-off

Each release includes 2 revision rounds. You play the masters on your own systems and send one combined list of notes, such as track 3 slightly less bright or shorter gap before the closing song. If you send a new mix instead, we master it again at the per-song rate.

Approved masters reach you via a download link. We keep the files for 6 months and then delete them. Payment, cancellation and retention rules are set out in our terms and conditions.

07Rates and VAT

A single master costs €65 per song. An EP of up to 4 songs is €220, and an album of up to 12 songs is €480. All prices include 21% VAT; excluding VAT they come to €53.72, €181.82 and €396.69.

The price is per release and covers masters for the formats you list in your request. If your album runs past 12 songs, the extra songs are charged at the per-song rate. When you confirm, we ask for a 30% deposit. Business clients pay within 14 days of the invoice date.

08What mastering does not cover

• Changes inside the mix, such as the level of a single instrument; that requires the individual tracks.
• Applying for ISRC or EAN codes, or uploading to distributors.
• Artwork for sleeves, labels or CD-Text beyond titles and artist names.
• Ordering pressings or CDs from a plant.

Want to know whether your mixes are ready for mastering? Send one song through the contact form and you will hear from us within 2 working days.