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The purpose of
this article isn't to condemn all facilities that charge
cheap prices. The market place will always have its
various price points no matter what the product is. Consumers are
always free to
choose whatever they perceive to be a good value. However,
mastering is like any other product or service. You get what you pay for.
When choosing a mastering facility that charges cheap
rates, you run the risk of becoming the victim of a
scam. The search engines are full of them. They
attract customers with marketing hype, cheap rates, and
provide masters of questionable quality. So, it's
"buyer beware."
Digital technology has enabled
anyone with a computer and inexpensive or cracked
software, to enter the mastering arena.
There are common phrases used by scam mastering
facilities that should raise a red flag whenever you're
using an Internet search engine, or reading advertisements
in music publications. You need to exercise caution
when obtaining the services of any facility that uses
these phrases. Being
aware of these phrases will help you identify the scams so
you don't become their next victim.
Examples of common phrases are:
1. We're The Cheapest... And The Best.
2. We Make Your Music Sound Amazing.
3. Mastering - Only $15 Per Track.
4. Mastering - Only $199 For A Complete CD.
5. We Provide CDs That Are Radio Ready (Or
Advertise Radio Quality Results).
6. We Offer 24 Hour Turn Around (48 Hour Turn
Around Is Also Common).
7. Have Your CD Mastered By One Of Our Expert
Engineers.
8. We Make Your Music Loud And Punchy.
9. Before And After Mastering Samples.
10. If You Don't Like It... You Don't Pay.
Again, these are just examples. The actual phrases
might be slightly different from the above, but the scam
is still the same.
Let's examine each of the above phrases.
We're The Cheapest... And The Best
It's interesting how some mastering engineers openly admit
how little their mastering talent is worth. In
looking at their gear
list, they claim to have thousands of dollars invested in
equipment. They never mention their mastering room
which costs thousands of dollars to design and build. Can
they really make money charging $15.00 a
track, or $199.00 for a whole CD if they have to pay for their investment and facilities
overhead? The level of service these facilities
provide should be obvious.
We Make Your Music Sound Amazing
This statement takes advantage of those who don't know
what to expect when having their CD mastered. Here's
a good rule to follow. If your mix doesn't already
sound good to you when you're finished mixing, it's not
ready to be mastered.
Mastering - Only $15 Per Track
The same answer as "We're The Cheapest... And The
Best."
Mastering - Only $199 For A Complete CD
Also the same answer as "We're The Cheapest... And
The Best."
We Provide CDs That Are Radio Ready
Radio ready is a myth that got started through
misinformation, then advanced through ignorance. It
usually means the music has to be mastered loud to
sound good on the radio. Nothing can be further from
the truth. This Article
written by Bob Orban, the man who invented the radio
compressor, is very revealing in regards to radio
broadcast levels and how they affect music.
We Offer
24 Hour Turn Around
It takes 6 to 8 hours (depending on the material) to
master the average 10 to 12 song CD. So how can a
mastering facility
offer a 24 hour turn around if they're as busy as they try
to make you think they are? They turn a project
around fast because they have the misguided idea that
mastering means one thing... make it loud. They slap
a brick wall limiter on the tracks, raise the level 6 to
10dB, and they're done in minutes (that's why the cheap
price). However, that's not mastering. It's
"messtering."
Have Your CD Mastered By One Of Our Expert Engineers
What's funny is they never mention who the expert
engineers are. Never have a CD mastered without
knowing who the so called "expert engineer" is.
Not telling you the name of the engineer is unprofessional
and shows a lack of common courtesy. Or, it means they're
hiding something from you.
We Make Your Music Loud And Punchy
This is complete nonsense! For a mix to be both loud
and punchy is to defy the law of physics. It has to
be one or the other. This statement shows a lack of audio
integrity. A mix with punch requires headroom which
results in a lower volume. For a
mix to be loud, the headroom must be removed or
drastically reduced, which eliminates the punch.
It's not rocket science.
Before And After Mastering Samples
While there are some legitimate mastering facilities that
offer before and after samples, be careful of this one. It's
common
for some mastering facilities to first master a song, then
go back to the original and EQ it to sound worse than it
did originally. Then they lower the level of the original
by 3-4dB to make it sound even weaker in comparison.
Then they post both versions on their web site so you can
listen to the huge differences. This is dishonest,
unethical, and it's happening more than you think.
If You Don't Like It... You Don't Pay
They lure you in by using this tactic. It sounds
safe, doesn't it. If you think about it for a
minute, what does this really say?
It says they have a lack of confidence in their ability
and have the expectation that you may not like their work.
Legitimate mastering facilities don't operate in this
manner. They don't offer a "don't pay"
policy because an engineer, like anyone else providing a
service, should be paid for his time. Legitimate mastering facilities don't expect you to feel their work
is mediocre.
To Summarize
Be careful when considering a facility as described in the
10 points above, and use caution with facilities whose web
sites are full of marketing hype. Who you choose
to master your project is entirely up to you. There
are many facilities to choose from at various price
points. Be careful of those who try to lure you in
with cheap rates. Cheap rates aren't necessarily an
indication that a facility is operating as a scam, but
most scam operations charge cheap rates. So be forewarned.
It may help you avoid
a major disappointment.
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