Mastering The perfect finishing touch

Pricing

New Pricing

~~€5 per minute~~

Special Offer
€4 per minute

plus €5 per track

Simple unified pricing structure
Optional stem mastering available
2 to 14 day delivery

Example of pricing: You have a 6 track, 30 minute EP. It will cost (30 minutes x €4) + (6 tracks x €5). So that's €120 + €30 = €150.

Please note all prices shown are ex-VAT. If you are a registered business outside Germany, then VAT will not be charged. Otherwise for consumers inside the EU please factor in an additional 19% VAT. All masters include digital delivery in any required formats (eg DDP file set, WAVs, compressed etc). CD-R master containing full release costs €5 + shipping.

How it works

A fresh perspective

Inevitably the mix process results in hundreds (or thousands!) of listens to your track. By hiring a mastering engineer you bring a fresh set of ears to the process. I have a wide-ranging appreciation of musical styles and between my well-trained ears, acoustically treated studio, and high quality monitoring systems, I can provide a crucial unbiased listen to your mix. Any issues, no matter how minor, will be found and addressed.

In the box

To be upfront, you should know that all mastering will be done exclusively "in the box". I do not use analogue gear during my mastering process.

In the past professional mastering engineers strictly worked with outboard gear. Today however, working in the box for the majority of tasks has become ubiquitous for almost all mastering engineers. The simple fact is that there are things you're able to do in software that just aren't possible using hardware and the audio quality of mastering-grade plugins now rivals and exceeds that available in the analogue domain.

Of course this is not to say that I won't invest in some outboard analogue hardware in the future!

Correction & enhancement

My first step will be to judge if the mix has any flaws which need correcting. Various aspects will be considered: mono-compatibility, imbalanced stereo field, phase issues, or problem frequencies causing muddiness or excessive resonances.

After I am satisfied that any problem areas have been dealth with, I then proceed to find ways to enhance the quality of the mix. This process varies immensely depending on the track and your goals. It can include parallel processing, adding warmth, careful usage of mid-side techniques to enhance stereo imaging, before finally attending to loudness considerations (which are carefully handled to ensure a balance between loudness, dynamic range, and transient punch). Each mix is carefully treated as if it were my own song to get the best possible results.

The flow

Something I consider hugely important is ensuring that the album flows from one song to the next as well as possible. I will pay careful attention to track spacing, the overall mastering character across the full release, and levels from one track to the next. This is crucial for presenting your release as a coherent whole.

Preparing deliverables

Lastly I will create the production master. Important details such as ISRC codes and CD text can be added to each track before finalising the deliverables. The final delivery will depend on your requirements and your release plans, and I will consult with you to ensure that you have everything you need, whether it be a CD-R or DDP file set, WAV files for digital delivery, or customised WAV files for vinyl production.

The right balance

One of the commonly held beliefs about mastering is that one should 'do no harm', and it's hard to argue that this is anything but a good starting point. However, I believe that this final and crucial stage in the production of your artistic work has become more open to interpretation.

I carefully assess every job that comes in, and make sure to consult on your expectations of what the mastering process will yield. You may be hoping that the mastering process will impart some vital warmth and richness which you feel to be missing from the finished mix; or you may desire a cleaner, more clinical approach which brings the right balance of loudness, transient clarity, and dynamics whilst being transparent and maintaining the character of the mix.

Oberman Knocks (Nigel Truswell) says:

"I’d been a really keen fan of Alex’s work as an artist and when I discovered that he was also working as a mastering engineer, decided to ask him if he’d like to work with me on an upcoming release. The majority of my work has been mastered by the same person for many years and with that comes an ease in your working relationship with someone, so I was obviously expecting the whole process to be a little more protracted than usual. Right from the get-go Alex was incredibly engaged, not only with the tracks themselves, but also the process of getting things exactly as I wanted them to be. Along with his incredibly keen ear, exceptional attention to detail and great communication skills, I really felt like I was in very safe, reliable hands. Working with him was an absolute pleasure and I was delighted with the final outcome of the release, so will definitely be calling him up again in the future."