Audio Mastering is an art and a science. The “art” side being the creative application of the tools. such as eq’s, compressors and limiters, and the “science” in understanding how those tools can best accomplish the tasks at hand. The process of mastering audio is a delicate blend of both sides. When done correctly and transparently the difference is subtle, yet it can add tremendous impact to your final sound. Not only can audio mastering take your mixes to the next level, it also brings more consistency and clarity to the overall final product. In many cases this is where the mixes go from sounding like “mixes” to sounding like a radio ready “album”. The goal is not to change your mix, but to enhance and balance it so it sounds great across many different playback devices. Though music is totally subjective there’s no doubt that having a professional audio mastering engineer on your side helps. There are things learned over years of listening and “doing” your trade that cannot be replaced or replicated by punching a button on a software plug-in. Having an objective 3rd party master your project with an approach that’s unbiased is crucial to achieving a better and more balanced master.
Audio Mastering FAQ
First thing to do is contact us for details on how to upload your music. We’ll create a private Dropbox or SYNC folder for you to upload your music to. This is where you’ll upload full resolution stereo .wav or .aif files. When we say full resolution we want you to provide your mixes at the resolution you recorded at. Don’t dither or sample rate convert – get us the cleanest export of your song without any additional processing. We also ask that you leave us some headroom to work with… preferably at least -3dB below zero max peak (not RMS). We understand that today “loudness” plays a big part of what people expect, but this can have it’s pluses and minuses. There’s no problem adding some master buss compression or limiting to get a little hotter mix or glue it together a little more, just make sure you preserve headroom and do it in a way that is as transparent as possible. A bad over compressed or over limited mix is only going to sound like an over compressed or over limited master – you can’t reverse it.
We do the entire approval process online. Through your private Dropbox or SYNC folder we’ll upload final mastered .wav files that you can then be download, burned onto a cd or encoded into .mp3 or .m4a files for portability to a mobile device. After listening if you feel any revisions are needed just take some notes and we’ll knock them out. Obviously our goal is to nail it the first time out, but that doesn’t always happen. We’ll get it right and tight until you’re happy with the final sound. Our main goal is to make YOU happy. We always go the extra mile. As for final delivery, once approved, we’ll deliver the digital media as 16bit/44.1KHZ .wav files (at -.5dB below zero) and 24bit/44.1KHz .wav files (at -1dB below zero – mastered for iTunes). If you plan to duplicate or replicate CD’s please let us know and we’ll provide you a DDP 2.0 fileset with PQ code printouts (to be sent to the manufacturer). Many projects these days are going the digital release route.
AudioIntegrity was started up by recording/mastering engineer Jeff Gudenrath in early 2000. Beginning his career in Nashville in late 1993 starting out as a 2nd engineer, Jeff has continued the journey and currently resides outside Austin, TX. With almost a thousand albums mastered, two (2) Grammy Nominated albums and hundreds of repeat clients we’re still going strong over 20 years later. Audio Mastering is a craft like anything else. You get more seasoned at it over time. A lot of things have changed over the years from analog to digital to hardware to software. The most important thing with change is that you grow and adapt. That’s one of the advantages of using a mastering engineer that embraces the old and the new – with AudioIntegrity you get the best of both worlds…. analog, digital, experience, innovation, integrity and a desire to make every client happy.
AudioIntegrity charges a per song fee that is all-inclusive. We’re not going to hit you up later for money if you need extra bounces or copies of your master files. We’ll even encode your music into .mp3’s if you ask. Our rate is structured at $50 per track. Make sure you check our site as we run 10-12 song album specials and mastering deals every few months.
Great, let’s get rolling! Contact us so we can send you details for uploading your files. We’ll always want to do the first song as a test master. That’ll let you listen and get a feel for what AudioIntegrity can do for your music. If we’re all good then we’ll move forward with the rest of the album.
Great, let’s get rolling! Contact us so we can send you details for uploading your files. We’ll always want to do the first song as a test master. That’ll let you listen and get a feel for what AudioIntegrity can do for your music. If we’re all good then we’ll move forward with the rest of the album.