Online Audio Mastering Service
When looking for a someone to do their online music mastering, most recording studio professionals will send one song to a few online audio mastering services to see which one can make their mixes sound the best. Hiring a stranger online to do your mastering can be a scary thing, and the only way to find an audio mastering engineer you can trust is to upload a song for a free mastering sample before hiring them. Check out what I had to say about having an online mastering contest in my interview with Music Tech Magazine.
Get A Free Mastering Sample
To get a free mastered sample, click here to upload a song and I’ll master a large portion of it for free. If you like how it sounds after I’ve worked on it, you’ll be able to purchase and download the full mastered song instantly. I think you’ll find that my audio quality is amazing, and my customer service is the best in the world. Click here to
Music Mastering Online FAQ
1. Why shouldn’t I just have my mix engineer do my audio mastering?
2. What’s the difference between audio mixing and audio mastering?
3. Do you offer mixing services?
4. Will my music be radio/label-ready when I get it back from you?
5. How does online payment and delivery work?
6. How do I get a mix ready for online mastering?
7. What gear do you use?
8. Do you charge extra for revisions?
9. What are the advantages of music mastering online?
10. Can you embed ISRC, UPC and Track info into the masters?
11. How do I make a .zip file of all my audio files for upload? Does zipping effect audio quality?
12. What is your address?
13. Why do you offer a free mastering sample?
It is has been widely known in the music industry for a long long time that whoever mixed your album should not also be the music mastering engineer. Operating a mastering studio requires totally different tools and a more refined skill-set than mixing does. In addition, an mix engineer won’t have fresh ears or perspective if they have already listened to a project a million times. It is extremely uncommon for a record label to release unmastered music, or to have the audio mastered by the same person who mixed it.
Mixing is the process of adjusting the individual tracks/individual instruments in of a mix, and audio mastering typically only deals with the stereo output of a mix. Music mastering comes after mixing and is the last creative musical process before releasing a song or album. A good mastering engineer can also makes a collection of songs feel like an album, glueing them all together.
I don’t offer mixing services. I don’t recommend hiring a mix engineer who claims to offer both mixing and mastering services. You should only hire ‘full time’ music mastering engineers or get your audio mastered somewhere that is operates solely as a mastering studio. Places that claim to ‘do it all’ are generally very low quality. If you’re looking for a great online mixing engineer, email me and I’ll gladly recommend one.
Yes, IF your mixing is reasonably well done. Music mastering is the final “polish” or “sheen” on a mix, but it’s not a substitute for good mixing. That being said, I’ve worked on many CD’s that have had less than stellar mixes that have turned out sounding pretty good after leaving my mastering studio. It’s not uncommon that I’ll master a record that was recorded in something like GarageBand, and even though the recording and mixing where less than ideal, the record comes out sounding fantastic.
Payments must be made in full before online mastering can begin. After payment is made, files can be uploaded through my site or mailed. Once the music mastering is complete, WAV files will be sent online via FTP and if approved, those files can be released. If needed, a DDP 2.0 disc image can be sent online or physical CD masters can be mailed for an additional fee. Payments can be made with credit card or PayPal account. Shipping prices, if applicable, vary by location.
There are a few things to keep in mind when getting a mix ready to send off for online mastering. Here’s a list of pointers that will help keep your audio sounding it’s best:
i) Send your mix bounces in the same sample rate and bit depth you recorded it in. (If you recorded it at say, 48 Khz/ 24 bit, don’t convert it to 16 bit or 44.1 Khz.)
ii) Don’t put any effects (compression, limiting, EQ, etc) on you stereo output track.
iii) Make sure the stereo output track isn’t clipping, and that your individual tracks are not clipping either. Leaving me some headroom will help get the music to sound as amazing as possible.
iv) Listen to your mixes on as many sets of speakers as you can to make sure you’re happy with how they sounds in different environments. Good audio recordings generally sound good everywhere, and the better mixes sound before being sent to the mastering studio, the better it will sound after I’ve finished.
Great question! I don’t post a gear list, and here’s why:
It’s been widely publicized that lots of online mastering studio scams have been popping up online. Many of these online mastering studio websites post fake gear lists and use fake mastering studio pictures in an effort to rip people off. Some audio mastering engineers have even reported seeing pictures of their own mastering studio online on these scam websites!
I strive to operate my business with the highest level of integrity, and getting into a “gear-list war” with a con artist claiming to offer quality audio mastering online isn’t a battle worth fighting. If you’d like to hear what I can do for your music, please send me a sample song. You can’t fake great music mastering, and I find doing a free mastering sample for people is the best proof of the amazing quality and awesome results that I offer. Check out the interview I did with Music Tech magazine that goes into more detail on the subject of
online mastering contests.
In the unlikely event that you feel your masters doesn’t sound amazing after being returned from my mastering studio, I will make free mastering revisions until you’re happy with my work. If you ever aren’t satisfied for any reason with my work, please, please let me know, and I’ll bend over backwards to make it right. My goal is to keep your business for life, and I pride myself on having the best customer service in the mastering studio industry. I want to make sure your online mastering experience is the best it can possibly be.
If you hear any small mixing or editing mistakes in your mix after having it mastered, I offer a discount for remastering new mixes at a rate of $25 per song if there are only small changes to the mix.
When you getting music mastered online, you can easily try out a few mastering engineers before picking one. There are more audio mastering studios online to choose from, so you’ll be able to find someone who complements your musical style the most.
Yes I can. Check out this blog post for everything you could possibly need to know about embedding ISRC & meta data into CD audio.
Zipping your audio files doesn’t effect their audio quality, and it makes uploading big files for online music mastering much easier.
To create a .zip file in Mac:
a. Press “Command” and click each of files to select which files to zip.
b. Press “Control” and click on the selected files. Choose “Create Archive” or “Compress Files”.
c. This creates a new file, called Archive.zip. This is the compressed file.
d. Rename the Archive.zip file and upload it to me.
To create a .zip file in Windows:
a. Locate your files.
b. Ctrl-click on each file to select all of them.
c. Right-click and choose Send To > Compressed (Zipped) folder.
d. Rename the .zip file and upload it to me.
I’m just north of Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Most people that hear my work absolutely love it. I often get hired by people who have sent a single song out for over a dozen free mastering samples from various online mastering studios. I believe that if you hear my mastering, that you’ll hire me.
Any other music mastering questions? Contact me!
Audio Mastering Engineer Chris Graham
Before I began my career as an audio mastering engineer, I was a full time audio engineer/producer and musician. I eventually began to occasionally master some of my own client’s album projects due to their time or money constraints, and soon was being asked to master albums by other producers and engineers as well. Eventually, more and more people began asking me to master their songs and albums and I grew to really look forward to the reactions I would get after sending a final master back to someone. I soon realized that I enjoyed working with artists as their audio mastering engineer much more than I ever had enjoyed producing, engineering or even playing music professionally. As the projects kept coming in, I decided in 2008 to devote all my efforts to music mastering, and to stop accepting work as an mix engineer or producer.
I had my mastering studio built, and the choice felt right in my heart. I couldn’t be more pleased with where that decision has taken me. Few things give me more satisfaction than the feedback I receive from people about how excited they are that their recordings are finally “coming to life.”
I still occasionally find the time to get out on the road and play my own music, but I prefer to stay home with my wife and sons and master music for others. Running an Online Mastering Studio is a blast and I love meeting and working for the incredible people from all over the globe that call me their audio mastering engineer.
My family and I live just north of Columbus, Ohio. We love our cat, reading books, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, and going on long walks.
If you’d like to get to know me a little more before sending your project my way, please call me or send me an email.
Chris Graham in his music mastering studio.
Audio Mastering Reviews
Mastering engineers are notorious for being condescending jerks. My goal is to not only get your recording to sound awesome, but to do it while providing the best customer service in the world. I want to win your business for life. Take a look at some of my reviews on Google+, CitySearch, and below.
First I would say the service is incredible, never knew that professionality and good service could be delivered by one person, Chris will work whit you step by step and even help you get the best of your mixing and sounding more professional than ever. The price is right, the time is fast, the service is great and the sound is perfect and thats it. I would blindly give all my projects to Chris Graham. I will definitely recomend him.
I've worked a few other mastering engineers, and Chris is by far the best. I've never waited more than one hour for him to return a call or email. He shows enthusiasm and excitement for the mixes we send him and it truly feels like he is a part of our team...something I have not felt with other mastering engineers in the past. Best of all, the tracks always come back sounding incredible.
http://www.thedickandjaneproject.org
Chris is the best.. He is affordable, knowledgable, and has great customer service. Fast and quick turn around time and willing to work with you to make sure you are happy with the sound you receive. Very glad to have met him.
Chris is the best.. He is affordable, knowledgable, and has great customer service. Fast and quick turn around time and willing to work with you to make sure you are happy with the sound you receive. Very glad to have met him.
Chris did an excellent job on the masters for my band Burne Holiday's first EP project. He was extremely prompt, courteous, and passionate about making our tunes sound as good as possible for an extremely fair price. I would not hesitate to use his service again.
http://www.burneholiday.com
I requested mastering samples earlier from some other mastering engineers, but when I heard Chris' samples, I knew who had to master my new EP. I expected to wait a week or so, but like he said in his email, after 2 days it was finished. And the result is wonderful! He really has some magic in his fingers :) I´m happy I know a great mastering engineer now for my future work.
I worked with other professionals on mastering some of our project in the past but Chris has proven to be one of the best in the industry. We are fortunate to work with him, he is involved with the project from start to finish and he puts the extra effort in to make our our music sound great and be successful.
Thanks Tom
Chris Graham provides an excellent mastering experience, highlighted by his great communications. Chris has gone beyond expectations to help us achieve the audio presence we are looking for in our first EP. The quality of his mastering work is absolutely great. You won't be disappointed.
Rapid turnaround and ridiculously amazing sound quality on my latest track! Definitely coming back !
Everything with Chris is highly professional and top notch, starting with his excellent customer support to the final mastered product.
Having sent one of our songs to four online mastering providers, we've chosen Chris after a unanimous decision in the band and he we were highly satisfied.
We will definitely recommend Chris's services to fellow groups in the area and contact him in the future with new songs to master.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/BHC/34839535740
52 Westerville Sq #118 Westerville, Oh, 43081 USA
chris@chrisgrahammastering.com • 614-664-3664