On-line mastering services — anyone used them?

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

Abbey Road was nice - but we both felt it was a little too "hot". Great balance otherwise. We did the option where you don't get to pick the mastering engineer (assuming that's how most would go, since it's the cheaper option). The thing we kept coming back to is that these were all done by a human...so we weren't sure how repeatable the results would be. We felt that each engineer would have their own "sound" and that if we ran the same 3 tunes again we would get different results from a different engineer. We both felt that if we had had the chance to talk with the engineer beforehand we would have had a great master...but that's not what there quick mastering service is about. So we called it "really good".

FYI - When I paid to choose the engineer, there was a an opportunity to converse with him via email both before and after the work was done. I also had the option of having him take another crack at it based upon my comments. I didn't have it redone because I liked what I got back but I had that option.

[slewis]

Not that this thread needs resurrecting (!), but I wanted to say again that I really appreciate the input here, and on a few other AGF mastering-related threads I've read. In my typical glacier-like form, this is all still a very relevant issue for me, as I'm finally -- five years after posting this thread -- within a few weeks of finishing the recording of an eleven-song all-original CD, with all but one tune being full-band (drums, bass, guitars & vocals). I do have space in my budget for hiring an Actual Human Being to do my mastering, which is apparently the almost-obvious choice with stuff like this, especially for the more dynamic multi-instrumental stuff.

An old co-worker friend of mine has worked in the mixing/mastering/producing field (and is an insanely good drummer) with his own business for a few decades now and I'm leaning toward using him, though I don't yet know if this genre is down his alley or not, which seems to be relevant factor.

One other consideration that I've passed on to him is if he is able to do the IRSC (?) encoding and including the text info for the song that shows up on on-line platforms, compliance with iTunes specs, etc.

Anyway thanks again for the info and insights, all. I'll let you know how it goes...

[Ty Ford]

I think that ISRC fields exist in the Apple iTunes (now, Apple Music) apps.

I haven't used them in a while, but I think I recall running into them during a past project.

Regards,

Ty Ford