Mastering is a term used for many different parts of the production process. We do digital transfers at no charge with your order. Mastering refers to having your material sweetened. If you're not happy yet with your mixes, perhaps they need EQ, compression, leveling, or other enhancements before you put it to CD or tape.  If you need this service, we can help you and the cost is usually $150-200. If you only need basic editing to get your songs in order with clean pauses between each, then ask for our basic editing services for about $75.

It's finally finished. Those perfect sounding mixes you've worked so long to get right are in your hand on a neat little DAT or CD-R. After hours of listening, you've chosen the order of the songs to your satisfaction. Now it's time to start mastering..... Wait a minute, you say, didn't I just make the master? This is a very common question asked by artists making records and the answer is, "Not really." When you're mixing down your song, you're weaving all the sounds and EQ of the different instruments and voices together in the way that best suits the need of that musical selection.  When you're finished with all the mixes, the engineer will put them in order.  Although this is a kind of master, this is not what is referred to as "mastering."

Mastering the first step in the manufacturing process of any recorded medium. It is also the last step in the production process, where you can add that extra punch to the kick drum, or even out the levels between verse and chorus. Most importantly, this is when you EQ the entire project to match industry standards. Ever wonder why some "professional recordings" sound totally different on two different stereo systems, but that Tina Turner tape or disk sounds pretty close on both?  My guess is Tina remembered to master.  Until now, you have been listening to the mix of each song individually in relationship to itself, making sure it's just how you want it.  Now its time to experience all the songs together as one work and fine tune their relationship to one another.

A good mastering engineer first and foremost is someone with a superior musical ear,  who is able to listen objectively to your mixes and make adjustments to enhance the overall production. A mastering engineer with experience, knowledge and an understanding of the limitations of different formats is crucial in maximizing  the....

A production master is a fully edited, equalized (EQ'd) and leveled copy of your musical material prepared to sound exactly the way you want the final product to sound. This infers that it should have all the proper cuts in the correct sequence, at the correct levels, and with the desired spacing between cuts. EQ controls the tonal balance of the music - the balance of high, low, and midrange frequencies. Leveling means balancing the volume of each cut with the other cuts, and using proper amounts of compression to take advantage of the whole frequency spectrum. Consistent tonal balance and level from cut to cut produces a more listenable flow in the program material. DAT (digital audio tape) or CD-Rs (compact disk recordable) are becoming the preferred production master formats for cassette and CD duplication or replication.

                      for digital editing and mastering.