During the mastering the single tracks are no longer edited, it‘s just about a final straightening of the frequency spectrum in the mix master, the adjusting of the dynamics and loudness and searching for faults in the audio material. Small irregularities or excessive frequencies get corrected and, depending on the material, the spatiality of the sound will be enhanced to round it off.

This is particularly in case of different recordings get compiled for an album. Then the mastering becomes the most decisive factor, because tonal differences need to get balanced out to reach a unity of sound.

Before starting a CD-duplication, the PQ-editing has to be done (thereby you set the breaks between the tracks, ISRC-Codes, CD-text and if necessary indices / copy protection and so on).

What should you pay attention to before delivering the files?

Please use 24-bit or higher during recording and mixing.Don‘t use any master bus compression when you bounce it.Please make sure that the levels of the tracks are well balanced in the mix (with 3-6db headroom, never digital 0db!, but also not to low, because digital or analog noise may rise).Ask yourself before recording: What is the purpose of the production? That leads to the question of the sample rate. If you want to make an audio CD, so use 44,1 kHz (CD), 88,2 kHz or 176,4 kHz, if you want to use it for a video, please use 48 kHz (DVD), 96 kHz or 192 kHz. We would advise not to use an uneven number of the sample frequencies.

Stem-mastering
Like it is written above, you can also give us your finished mix in groups of stereo tracks, so we have the opportunity to work specific on each group and correct them if necessary during the mastering. Important is that the stems have the correct levels and pannings (like in the mix). It is possible to do a stem mastering with 2 stereo groups (e.g. all the instruments and all the vocals) or up to four or five stereo groups for instruments (e.g. drums, bass, guitar, keys and other, vocals). If you want to give us more groups, we would advice you to use our mixing service.

If you are interested in a mastering for your production, whether it‘s about a complete service package including a recording of music or speech by us or if it‘s about a finished mix, just ask for it. We offer you a mastering of one minute of your material as a try for free and without obligation, so you have nothing to loose!