Why should I get my songs mastered by SongMastering.com ?

   We are a mastering company and a mastering company only. This frees us up to concentrate on perhaps the most important part of the recording process. A quality mastering job is perhaps the single most reason your song will sound like a million bucks.

   What sets us a part from other companies is our total devotion to customer satisfaction. We keep the customer involved in the mastering process and we are never finished until the customer is totally satisfied.

   Despite being a first class engineer and producer, Jim Mason has been a professional bass player and songwriter for almost 30 years. Jim feels it is very important for him and his staff to have a diverse musical background. This helps Jim and his crew understand the mind of the artists which we believe is the most important aspect in creating a great master.

   Don't trust you mastering to some faceless, nameless company, let Jim and his crew give you the user-friendly and personal approach you deserve for you hard work.

  What can I do to prepare for the mastering process?

  Here are a few suggestions that will help your mastering engineer:

  1. Do not use excessive effects. Use compressors and reverb very sparingly, especially on the master fader.

  2. Record at higher resolutions (i.e. 24 or 16 bit wav or aiff file). It is much easier for a mastering engineer to work with a high resolution file before converting them to an mp3

  3. Avoid clipping and unwanted distortions at all cost. Clipping is indicated by the red line in your track meter.

  4. Try to avoid normalizing or applying effects to your final mix to bring the volume up. Let your mastering engineer make your song louder.

  What's in a sample ?

   Well, this is what sets us a part from most mastering services. We make it very easy for our new customers to receive a free sample and in most cases you only have to wait a few days to hear it. The only caveat is that your song has to be ready for mastering from an audio point of view. We provide a little explanation of some of the main reasons you may not receive a free sample on the upload form itself. Of course, we will let you know exactly why your particular song may not be ready for mastering.

  Because mastering is a skill that takes professional human judgment and care the process can take many hours that may span several days. Mastering is not only trying to find that perfect sound or "sweet spot" but it also entails making sure your audio will perform well over varying speaker and headphone configurations that your listeners might use.

  Do I have to be a paypal member to purchase the mastered file ?

  No, you can pay with a credit card without registering as a paypal member.

  Why did you tell me you can't master my mp3 ?

   An (127 or lower kbps) mp3 is a poor audio quality to have mastered. It is much better to master a wav file, aiff file or a higher kbps mp3 such as 320 kbps. If at all possible please mix your songs using 16 or 24 bit wav files or aiff files then bounce the final mix as a wav or aiff file or at the very least a 320 kbps mp3.

   When you convert a file to an mp3 it makes the file size smaller but it also strips out audio quality, which can never be fully recovered. This is also known as lossy compression.

   In most Instances SongMastering.com will try and prompt the customer to upload a better quality file if we receive an mp3 of 127 kbps or lower.

  You said my mix is too loud, what should I do ?

   It is very important to understand that your mastering engineer is trained to make your file louder without loosing audio quality. Therefore, please do not concern yourself with pumping up the volume in the mixing stage. Leave that to us !

   Your best policy is to leave plenty of headroom or available db level space for your engineer. Try to make sure your loudest peak never goes above -3 db for the best results on your master. Keep a close eye on your master fader to make sure your levels aren't too hot.

  Here is a nice picture depicting proper mix levels courtesy of Wikipedia

  I uploaded a song to you and still haven't heard back from you ? Are you ignoring me ?

  The main reason you may have not heard back from us is usually due to a few problems.

  - you gave us a wrong email address

  - Our emails are getting deleted, trapped or delayed in your spam filter

  - Your email box is full

  Please note that you will receive a confirmation upon successful upload.

  I loved and bought your master but heard some things in the mix I would like to change, will I have to pay full price to have it Mastered again ?

  In most cases, you will only be charged %50 of the listed price on a remix of a song you have already purchased.

  Will SongMastering.com master my CD?

  Yes! SongMastering.com will master your C.D. or E.P. Just fill out this simple request form and we will get in touch with you, usually within 24 hours. You will be provided with a price and an estimated completion time for the service and an opportunity to hear a free sample.

  In most instances, You will receive a discount if you need more than 5 songs mastered at a time. We will also provide you with CD-ROM of your masters if you live in the United States. Customers who live outside of the United States or need priority shipping options will be charged extra for shipping and handling.

  Please note that this is a pre paid service. Due to the amount of time and care that goes into mastering a CD it is necessary for us to receive payment before completing your CD or EP mastering request. We will take great care to make sure your mixes are ready for mastering and that you have a chance to here a free sample before sending you an invoice.

  I just received my mastering sample. what are the things I should be listening for ?

  Great Question. While many will notice a big improvement right away some improvements might be more subtle. Unfortunately, many computer speakers are not very good, so I would suggest listening to your sample using a good set of headphones direct from your computer or ipod.

   Secondly, try burning your sample to a c.d. and listen to your sample on several different stereo systems. listen to your sample at different volume levels and e.q. settings. Mastering should help your song stand up better at all different volumes and e.q. settings.

   As always, If you have any other questions or concerns about your mastering sample please do not hesitate to ask.

  Can I just convert my mp3 to a wav or aiff file to recover lost quality ?

   Converting an mp3 to a higher quality file such as a .wav file will have no real effect on the overall sound quality of the file. It would be like taking a high quality picture of a low quality picture. The high quality picture will only look as good as the low quality picture.

  Please tell me more about audio file formats ?

   Here is a professional dissertation on audio formats written by our very own Ben Blakesley. Click Here

   What is clipping and why is it bad ?

   Clipping is just that. It is actually clipping or chopping off the top of your sound wave. It would be similar to someone taking a pair of scissors to the top part of a painting of a mountain and burning it. You know there is probably a peak in that missing part of the picture but you don't know what it's shape should be. Once you clip that signal you can never get that information back.

   Digital clipping can usually be heard as a harsh or annoying unwanted distortion. Usually clipping occurs when someone is trying to make a track louder without watching the track meters. Clipping is most often indicated by a red line in your track meter. Please Click Here for a short picture tutorial on clipping.

  Shouldn't I wait until I have enough songs to make a C.D.? Why should I have individual songs mastered?

   The face of music publishing has changed forever with the internet. Every band has different needs. Some people only need a few songs to showcase on their favorite website. Many artists do not need the expense of manufacturing C.D.'s when they can distribute their songs through mp3 download services. The paradigm of having a 10 to 14 song physical C.D. no longer applies in today's music world. Whether you are making a C.D. or you want to have your songs mastered over a long period of time you will not have to worry about a thing. We will make sure that each artist's songs are mastered in a consistent fashion. If you decide later that you want to publish your songs on a physical C.D., they will be ready to go.

   Do you have any advise for burning my mastered files on to a c.d. ?

   If you use your computer to burn the CDs you do not need to by special ?Audio? or ?Music? CD-R blanks. Those are only required for standalone decks and you are paying a royalty tax when you purchase those. The 4 most significant factors in burning a good sounding CD-R are the following:

   1) The CD-R Blank

   From running special testing software and from extensive listening tests the two brands that consistently outperform the others are Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim DataLifePlus. You must understand that there are only a few manufacturers of CD-Rs in the world, but many brands in the stores. So the name on the box is not necessarily the company who made the CD-R. Furthermore, just because you bought Brand X and they worked well the last time does not necessarily mean Brand X is still buying their blanks from the same company today. Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim are manufacturers. Taiyo Yuden sells their CD-Rs directly under the brand name Microboards and there is only one kind. The last time we checked, Maxell ?Pro?s ? the expensive triple coated ones ? were manufactured by Taiyo Yuden, but not any other version of Maxells. Verbatim makes cheaper blanks too, so be sure to get the ones that say ?Super AZO?. (In a pinch try TDK. Regular Maxells have not performed well. Avoid house brands and generic blanks.)

   2) The Writing Software

   At the very least you must be able to control the write speed. Nero is a proven performer and there are various other options.

   3) The Write Speed

   We generally recommend writing at 32x at this time, assuming you have new CD-Rs rated at 1x-48x or 1x-52x. As a general rule of thumb, write at about ? of the maximum rated speed for the CD-R.

   4) The Drive

   There are a number of good quality drives available today. But Plextor has consistently made the best drives and been the industry leader in quality and innovations. We recommend Plextor drives for audio. A newer drive will likely perform better than an older one and be sure to check that you have the latest firmware update for you drive.

   One final and important point is this. No matter what a particular CD-Rs imperfections are and how that may impact what you hear in a given CD player, the 1?s and 0?s are there intact and unaltered. The technical reasons for this are beyond the scope of a FAQ, but just know that when played on a digital workstation computer or a very high end CD player, it will sound fine. But if YOU want to hear how it sounds then employing these 4 points about the art of CD burning will be very helpful.

  - Answer provided by SongMastering.com's resident c.d. expert Phil Willis

  What is mastering?

  Actually, the term mastering is technically called pre-mastering. In "times gone by", mastering was the pressing, manufacturing, and duplication of the actual medium. In modern times, most people use mastering to mean pre-mastering. For my specific purposes, I use mastering to mean "sweetening" up your mix using compressors, harmonic exciters, limiters, gates, delays, broad equalizations, reverb, etc. SongMastering.com is specifically designed to help the musician who uses the internet and the mp3 format to publish their music. The end result is a competitive "commercial" sound to your mixes. In cases where SongMastering.com is asked to master a c.d., all the above methods are applied to get a great sounding master with an ear towards consistency among the tracks.

  I am having problems uploading and downloading files from your site. What is wrong?

  It probably has to do with your internet browser. AOL and NETSCAPE might not work properly for you on my site. My recommendation is to download the free version of FIREFOX 2. I have found FIREFOX 2 to be a good and stable internet browser for uploading and downloading files, especially large files.

  How long will it take to upload a 24 or 16 bit wav or aiff file?

  It could take as long as an hour to upload a large 24 bit file with a high speed connection. If you have a dial-up connection, I will accept an mp3 file. Please make sure when you convert your high resolution files to an mp3 to use the highest kbps rate possible. I recommend 320 kbps.

  Will you accept other forms of payments besides paypal?

  Yes, I will accept checks or money orders through the mail If you live in the United States. Once your payments has cleared, I will release your final master or your c.d. via the internet or by mail. If you do not intend on paying through paypal, please let me know when you upload your file so we can make the proper arrangements.

   Customers who live outside of the United States must pay using a Paypal Account.

  Can I send you my song files through the mail?

  Yes, but only if we have made arrangements before hand. Please contact me to tell me your situation before you send me any files via the postal service.

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