MASTERING
Delivery
Revisions
Online Stereo / Stem Mastering
Since we do not offer attended sessions at this time, our mastering services happen online. We do, however, offer a direct contact with our engineer in order to provide the best experience.
Stereo mastering is done to a stereo mix as its source. It can limit the possibilities to potentially re-shape the track. For example, if you need to increase the level of the drums, stereo mastering would also increase the level of every other element of the mix. The same rule applies to equalization, compression and all creative effects you might want to implement. With stem mastering, all of these elements are accessible separately, so you can increase just the level of drums without changing the balance of other elements. It allows an engineer to process a single element of a song in isolation. Stem mastering can be as simple as having two stems (example: vocals and instrumental) or multiple stems (example: drums, bass, guitars, keys, vocals) allowing more flexibility and control. Stem mastering allows an engineer to fix a problem that can occur in one element of the mix, without processing other elements. The engineer may not change every single stem, but the process gives them the option to do so if necessary.

For Stereo mastering you would be asked to deliver the following files:
– Full Mix (24bit .WAV file)
– Backing Track (24bit .WAV file) – if you’d like to receive the backing track master.
– Instrumental (24bit .Wav file) – if you’d like to receive instrumental master.
All files must not be hitting 0dB true peak. You should not have a limiter applied to the mix.
For Stem mastering you would be asked to deliver 24bit .WAV stems tailored for your pfoject.
All files must not be hitting 0dB true peak. Ideally, all stems summed up should also not hit 0dB true peak.
Instrumental and backing track masters will be delivered only if you provide us with the instrumental and backing track version of the mix. They will be of the same resolution as the streaming master.
DDP image for physical CD distribution will only be delivered if you provide us with the following metadata:
– official title of the song / songs
– official title of the EP / LP / Album
– legal names of all songwriters (specified for each song)
– ISRC codes for each song
– UPC / EAN (if applicable)
Turnaround Time
Turnaround time generally depend on the amount of songs and whether you need stereo or stem mastering. It will extend if you hire us to master an EP or an Album.
Usually, we send the first pass of the master within a day. After we receive all files for the project and examine them, we will be able to give better estimated turnaround time specifically for your song / EP / Album.