Frequently Asked Questions

Mastering - General

- What is mastering?
- What does mastering do?/ What can I expect from you?
- How are you able to do those things?
- Do you do separation / stem mastering?
- What format should the tracks be in for an attended session?
- What level should the files be? Should there be any processing on them?
- Can we come round for a free demonstration before we decide to master with you?

eMastering

- Why should I do my eMastering with you and not another company?
- What if I want changes on the master?
- Let's assume that I'm not satisfied with the master. What happens then?
- What formats, file names, sample rates and bit depths should the tracks be in for uploading? What information should I include?
- What level should the files be? Should there be any processing on them?
- How do I upload my tracks / download my master?
- My login or password doesn't seem to work.
- I want to get in touch with you. Can I? And how?
- Why do you offer a separate mastering and eMastering package?

Mastering

What is mastering?

Mastering is the last process in the production chain before media replication or electronic distribution. The job of mastering is to make the recording the absolute best it can be.

What does mastering do?/ What can I expect from you?

- We make each track sound as good as it can. That can mean making it punchier, more transparent, warmer, bigger, wider, tighter and more controlled, airier, glossier, etc. What we do depends on what works for the song. Our aim is to unlock the full potential of each song.

- We make the individual mixes work as an album. The sound will be coherent between songs, the pause timing will create a natural flow, the levels will feel just right, the listener will never feel the need to reach for any controls. A good album will have you listen to the music, not the sound recording thereof. You should never have to think about the fact that there's sound coming out of the speakers.

- We make sure the release works perfectly on the medium it is to be delivered on. That means that we know everything there is to know about the content delivery mechanism. We know what is possible and what can go wrong. When you receive your master, whatever the format may be, you can be sure that the replicated product will work exactly as you expect it to.

In fact, we'll offer you a complete satisfaction guarantee. Should you not be satisfied with the master and do not work with us on a revision (or revisions), we will refund you the full amount you paid. In turn, of course, we require you to guarantee that you will not use any part of our mastering for any release.
We can offer this guarantee easily because we know that we make outstanding masters; this is backed up by the fact that in six years in business, no one has ever asked us for their money back. We take pride in the fact that we have not had a dissatisfied customer. By giving this guarantee, we can provide you with the confidence needed to get the ball rolling.
Furthermore, we also guarantee that any master we produce will be free of format errors.

How are you able to do those things?

A mastering engineer combines experience, objectivity and precision with the creativity of an artist, helping you by unlocking the full sonic potential of your music. He will tweak your productions with the best sound processing gear to give them that final finish you were looking for.

We work in a controlled environment, specifically designed for the purpose: a highly conditioned acoustic space, through the most linear speakers. This very neutral listening environment takes out as many variables as possible and lets us make educated judgments on the recording itself without having to worry about characteristics the acoustic space or playback equipment is introducing.

We use only the absolute best equipment to process sound. Actually, we test pretty much all of the high end gear out there, then buy what we think is the best equipment you can get and then, a lot of the times, we modify it because we find there's still room for improvement. You'll be amazed at the level of detail that we consider, both in the design of our work environment and when working on your recording.
We care about the smallest details because we know that they, in turn, influence the big picture.

Do you do separation / stem mastering?

Of course. Mastering from stems gives us more flexibility in processing, should it be beneficial. However, be advised that mastering from stems usually takes a bit longer than mastering from a stereo mix. If you are attending a session, why not bring both the stereo mixes and stems with you? That way, we have all options available. For the preparation of the stems, please make sure that all stems summed at unity gain will result precisely in your stereo mix. Please record any effects onto the stems that the sending signal is on. That is, the vocal echo should be on the vocals stem, the snare reverb should be on the drums track. If you have any more questions about mastering with stems / separation mastering, please do not hesitate to contact us.

What format should the tracks be in for an attended session?

We can work with just about any type of audio file format, but the most foolproof is WAV or AIFF. If you can, please export 24 bit versions. If you have a choice, set dithering to 24 bit as well. Choose the sampling rate that your recording project runs in (if you record digitally). That is, if your project runs in 48 kHz, export the mixes in 48 kHz. If you record non-digital, i.e., if your project does not have a specific sample rate, please record the mixes in 24 bit 96 kHz, if you have the option.

You can supply files or audio stream on any type of CD, DVD, USB sticks, hard drives, laptop computer media card, AIT tape or DLT tape.

If you bring a DAT, DA88 tape, HD24, cassette tape, minidisc, vinyl, Protools or Sadie project, please let us know beforehand so we can have the right playback device ready when you arrive.

What level should the files be? Should there be any processing on them?

Your mixes should have a good level without ever reaching 0 dBfs. If you supply a 24 bit file, it doesn't matter all that much whether the highest peak is at -1 or -6 dBfs.

Please do not apply any processing on the mix bus. There should be no limiter, compressor, finalizer, inflator, clipper, exciter, stereo widener, tape emulator, master EQ or such on the master output. Individual channel compression and group compression is of course very much part of the mix, but signal processing on the summing bus can really make our work very hard because it limits later choices and may create unforeseeable artifacts.

If you really like the way your processing sounds on the mix bus, we suggest you bring mixdowns with processing too. Maybe, together, we'll decide to work from them and even if not, they can be a useful pointer as to your sound preferences. But please always - repeat: always - also have a version without master processing with you.

Can we come round for a free demonstration before we decide to master with you?

Of course. Come round for a coffee and we'll see how we can improve the sound of your tracks.

eMastering

Why should I do my eMastering with you and not another company?

We are an established mastering studio offering an eMastering service for our clients' convenience. We're not an internet startup primarily focused on marketing mastering as a white good. We don't view eMastering as a money maker on the side. Our eMastering is handled with the same care that any other session is handled with. The session is performed by the same engineers that handle our attended sessions in our superb mastering suite, using the same high quality equipment. And then, of course, our service is completely risk free because we offer you our satisfaction guarantee (see below).

What if I want changes on the master you made?

Mastering is not necessarily an absolute. Music being art, there is always taste involved. If our master doesn't match your taste, we want to know exactly what your thoughts are and we will make a revision. You will not be charged for this; we think that our clients should ALWAYS be absolutely satisfied and we promise to make that happen.

Let's assume that I'm not satisfied with the master and don't want to do a revision. What happens then?

In six years of business and hundreds of albums this hasn't happened, but of course, we want to provide for the possibility. This is where our satisfaction guarantee comes in: Should you not be satisfied with the master and do not work with us on a revision (or revisions), we will refund you the full amount you paid. If you are not completely satisfied with our work, we don't want to charge for it. In turn, of course, we require you to guarantee that you will not use any part of our mastering for any release. We can offer this guarantee easily because we are sure that we make outstanding masters and know that above all, this guarantee will give you the confidence to get the ball rolling by removing all risk from eMastering.

What formats, file names, sample rates and bit depths should the tracks be in for uploading? What information should I include?

We can work with just about any type of audio file format, but the most foolproof is WAV or AIFF. If you can, please export 24 bit versions. If you have a choice, set dithering to 24 bit as well. Choose the sampling rate that your recording project runs in (if you record digitally). That is, if your project runs in 48 kHz, export the mixes in 48 kHz. If you record non-digital, i.e., if your project does not have a specific sample rate, please record the mixes in 24 bit 96 kHz, if you have the option.

Please make sure that your mixes are clearly named. We suggest naming each track in the following scheme:
tracknumber_-_artist_-_trackname.wav

If you send us SD2 mixes (or any other format besides WAV/AIFF), please include the bit depth and sampling rate at the end of each track name.

We encourage you to provide us with additional information. If you have any specific instructions, or in fact any thoughts at all that will help us understand your specific tastes, write them in a .txt or .doc file and enclose them with the songs. We especially ask that you tell us what kind of overall volume you want on your disc. The louder a disc is, the higher the distortion, so if you don't need your disc to be as loud as your reference files (see below) or as other popular albums of that genre, we'd like to know about it.

Also, we encourage you to provide some reference tracks (1-5). These should be reasonably recent albums that are comparable in style and instrumentation and should be tracks that you view as sounding ideal. This will give us a very good idea of your personal sound preferences. You can supply these reference tracks as 16 bit wav / aiff or as a high quality mp3 (high bit rate, at least 192 kbps). Please clearly mark your reference files as such. For example: reference1_-_artist_-_trackname.wav

Then, pack all your mixes, instructions and reference files into a single .zip or .rar file and upload them to your client account on our server.

And finally, send us an email to let us know that you have uploaded your tracks so we can get to work.

What level should the files be? Should there be any processing on them?

Your mixes should have a good level without ever reaching 0 dBfs. If you supply a 24 bit file, it doesn't matter all that much whether the highest peak is at -1 or -6 dBfs.

Please do not apply any processing on the mix bus. There should be no limiter, compressor, finalizer, inflator, clipper, exciter, stereo widener, tape emulator, master EQ or such on the master output. Individual channel compression and group compression is of course very much part of the mix, but signal processing on the summing bus can really make our work very hard because it limits later choices and may create unforeseeable artifacts.

If you really like the way your processing sounds on the mix bus, we suggest you bring mixdowns with processing too. Maybe, together, we'll decide to work from them and even if not, they can be a useful pointer as to your sound preferences. But please always - repeat: always - also have a version without master processing with you.

How do I upload my tracks / download my master?

On our web site, click on the CLIENT LOGIN button on the right hand side of the screen (scroll up from here). Next, your web browser should ask you for your login and password. Once you have entered those, you will be connected to our server and will see a directory labelled "01_upload_here". Now, drag and drop the packed zip file with all songs and additional information onto that folder.

If you have any trouble uploading, don't hesitate to contact us via email or phone.

My login or password doesn't seem to work.

Please check that:

- Your caps lock key isn't active

- You aren't confusing zeros and the letter O or the letter L and I

- Both the login and password are case sensitive, so please make sure that the letters you type are in the correct case.

- If the above didn't work it out, please contact us by mail or phone so we can work the problem out together.

I want to get in touch with you. Can I? And how?

Please do not hesitate to contact us. They key to good mastering, especially eMastering, is communication. You can always send an email and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

If you prefer, you can of course also reach us by phone. If you have already signed up for eMastering, we will have also sent you your engineer's cellphone number in the first confirmation email. Feel free to use that number in case he isn't in the studio at the time you want to contact him.

If you are in a different time zone than Germany, please consider this before calling (if you're in the US, add 6 hours for East Coast time and 9 hours for West Coast). We kindly ask that you don't call before 10 AM or after 11 PM central european time zone unless it's urgent because our phones will nearly always be routed to an engineer for emergencies.

Why do you offer a separate mastering and eMastering package?

We have been offering our customers online file transfers and delivery and fast service to a deadline since our first day in business, so this is nothing new to us. However, in recent years, 'online mastering services' have sprung up, attaching a fancy term to the practice. Some call it eMastering, some iMastering, some online-mastering; the list goes on.
Some companies are, of course, respectable, some seem more like marketing web sites than actual mastering studios, some seem to be designed by financial advisors to make an additional buck by placing inexperienced junior engineers in the studio throughout the night and early morning hours.

While we feel that using the term "eMastering" for a service that we consider nothing out of the ordinary is a bit silly, we have adopted the term for transparency. We want to be sure that potential clients know that there is a high quality alternative to faceless web sites that may well be run from your neighbour's bedroom.