Recommendation of mastering/production service?

[capefisherman]

I would like to get some basic tracks (about 20 songs, one acoustic guitar, all instrumental) mastered and hopefully put on a master CD that can be reproduced for sale at my gigs and via my site. Most of the songs have been recorded but they need some polishing up, levels adjusted, etc. I am working on a budget so I want to keep this project fairly simple, i.e., something that is a pleasing representation of what I do. I have neither the time nor interest in investing in Pro Tools or learning it so I would like to have a professional do this job. Recommendations of professionals who do this based on personal experience and approx. price paid are sincerely appreciated! There are many individuals and companies who advertise this service online but I want to make a good choice. My songs are recorded on a Zoom H5 and transferred to my computer where I did some basic editing such as trimming beginnings and ending, normalization, end fades. This was done using the Amadeus Lite software on my MacBook. Thanks! Gene

[kkrell]

http://greylarsen.com/mastering/.

Grey is a flute & concertina player and quite accustomed to acoustic music. He did a fantastic job on my award-winning Wooden Flute Obsession discs (4 CDs - volumes 2 & 3). That material came from numerous sources, too.- amateur cassette, minidisc, CD, thru 24-96-bit studio recordings.

The only thing I'd be worried about would be the prior processing of your tracks. Normalization is possibly a big no-no, and the fades too could be a problem. Best if the original source is still available, mixed to your liking.

[Bob Womack]

Hi, as a recording engineer/producer I've had some experience here.

This is one of those deals where you truly get what you pay for. The fellow in his bedroom with cut-rate prices will likely not give you the best job. Mastering these days consists of treating the audio and formatting the files (including metadata) for final reproduction and delivery in whatever form you choose. For instance, streamed music and digitally delivered music have requirements that are different from CD masters and vinyl masters. You want a second set of ears, a person who has mastered material like yours, and who knows about delivery expectations for each market. There are a couple of good routes to go if you don't have a lot of pesos:

1) mastering with an all-in-one fabrication service like Oasis. If you are going to make physical CDs they will often make you a combined deal.

2) mastering with an online services offered by brick-and-mortar mastering houses who are attempting to fill out their down time with online work. I've worked with Abbey Road Online Mastering and had pretty good results. It was almost as good as an attended mastering session but of course we chose the same engineer we'd worked with in person. We paid extra for more than one past at it.


What you loose with online mastering is the ability to hover and make adjustments. Most services will state up-front how many changes they allow.

Bob

[islandguitar]

Gene, you might try Static Productions, N. Kingstown R.I. Pete LaGrasse to see if he'd be suitable for your needs. He's done two CD's for me.....same deal....acoustic/Zoom recorded/loaded back onto the computer. A lot of his work is rock bands as I think that's where the money is, but he was quite a dedicated guy to my project. He has his own studio, but as you see from the web site, he does mixing and mastering via online work. My last connection was fairly recent, winter/spring of 2015.
www.staticproductions.com

the way I worked it with him was to give him the absolute raw file, but included my intro and fade and he took it from there. I think he uses Pro Tools along with other additions......my last project, he mixed and mastered and then I worked from there with Discmakers for the hard CD copies.
Fred

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by capefisherman

I would like to get some basic tracks (about 20 songs, one acoustic guitar, all instrumental) mastered and hopefully put on a master CD that can be reproduced for sale at my gigs and via my site.

I'd suggest to start by looking at CDs you like, in your style, and see who mastered them.

One person I've enjoyed working with is Cass Anawaty, www.sunbreakmusic.com. He used to show up on the forum now and then. He mastered one or more of Larry Pattis' CDs, did Anton Emery's Noone Lasses, and my Closing Time CD. I chose him partly for his past work, partly because he's a guitarist himself who has studied with Alex de Grassi, so I know he understands the genre. Some mastering guys can do anything, but given a choice, I'd prefer someone who has a lot of experience with instrumental guitar. In Cass's case, we had a lot of interaction, which was great. Between his gear and his ears, he heard things on my tracks that I could verify with tools, but not really hear, which is exactly what you want - a 2nd set of ears with the experience to know what to listen for, the ability hear better than you, and the knowledge of what to do about it.

[kkrell]

Originally Posted by kkrell

Wooden Flute Obsession discs (4 CDs - volumes 2 & 3).

Oh, also a good experience with volume 1, mastered by Charlie Pilzer at Airshow Mastering http://airshowmastering.com/