OT: High-end Mastering has really come down in price

[Dave Labrecque]

Got this from Sony today:


Sony Music Studios Internet Mastering, or "SIM," is now live at www.SonyMusicSIM.com (http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/article.asp?keycode=3491&url=http://www.SonyMusicSIM.com). Launched on December 4, this new service provides a way for independent artists from anywhere in the world to have their music mastered by accomplished engineers at one of the stop studio facilities in the world-for a fraction of the normal cost. Users can upload up to four songs per project, which allows for a fast turnaround time and affordable price structure, starting at US $99 per track.

[Microstudio]

This seems kinda odd to me....:confused:

In a way it seems like " We have a new recorder for $99.00... record like the stars ".

I don't think you are going to get the same service you would get from a local or well known Master House or service.

Just MHO.... thats all.

[Brent Bennett]

Users can upload up to four songs per project


Does this mean they're mastering mp3s?? No go for me. If you're going to do it, it needs to be done at the 24bit level.

[trock]

i don't know about sony but i know people like steve berson here, terry manning at compass point, and others let you FTP the full WAV file to them.

[Mark Stebbeds]

Does this mean they're mastering mp3s?? No go for me. If you're going to do it, it needs to be done at the 24bit level.

No, check out the site on the link Dave provided. They want high res files, and discourage MP3, although they will accept them. I've got a feeling for $99 you get about ten minutes of attention.

On the site, they recommend contacting them directly for "traditional" mastering of complete albums.

Looks to me like Sony Studios is just trying to book their mastering rooms by reaching out to the masses who have a few hundred bucks in their pocket to improve the sound of their home recordings. Pretty smart. It could be a volume thing. There's strength in numbers.

Mark

[trock]

i did a trial run with a few mastering people to see the difference etc. most of the places i looked at were around 100-150 bucks per song. i could not comprehend someone would want so little to "master" my stuff. but i agree with Mark here i would imagine you get about 10 minutes of attention, they run it thru their stuff, set some settings quickly and blast it out.

not that this is a bad thing, especially if the final product IS better thant what you could get on your own.

however i got my initial run back from a big mastering house and to me the bass was to much, so i emailed the engineer and to make any changes of course it was another 100 to run it thru again. now again for 100 bucks you can't expect these guys to spend alot of time on your stuff. but if you are thinking "WOW" for 100 bucks i can sit with them till its perfect then thats not what this is about. maybe some of them will let you blast WAV files back and forth and work on them til your thrilled but i think you get your mix to them and they shoot it thru 1 time and thats that.

the thing i was dissapointed in was my bass was nowhere near that loud in the mix i sent so i kinda felt it wasn't my fault, but then again what do you want for 100 bucks?

[Ian Alexander]

No, check out the site on the link Dave provided. They want high res files, and discourage MP3, although they will accept them. I've got a feeling for $99 you get about ten minutes of attention.

On the site, they recommend contacting them directly for "traditional" mastering of complete albums.

Looks to me like Sony Studios is just trying to book their mastering rooms by reaching out to the masses who have a few hundred bucks in their pocket to improve the sound of their home recordings. Pretty smart. It could be a volume thing. There's strength in numbers.

Mark
Kinda like MasterMart, eh? Well, it's made retail a dream for shoppers and employees...

[Dallas4lr]

i got my initial run back from a big mastering house and to me the bass was to much


trock, this has happened to me soooo many times its not funny, its a shame that so many of the large mastering house screw up good recordings like this. I've had this done to the extent that on some records the bass boost they added rendered it virtually unplayable on most systems. It just sounds horrible.


Dallas

[trock]

Hey

yeah i was really dissapointed in that stuff, the stuff Steve Berson did for me on his trial was ALOT better. He is someone i would use from here on out once i get mroe stuff finished

[studio-c]

Wow. I could load Voxengo CurveEQ on an internet server with some pre-set templates.

Web site totally automated, includes the following:

"I want my mix to sound like (pick the closest):
A- AC/DC
B- London Philharmonic
C- Barenaked Ladies
D- Metallica"

Then you load that preset in as a target EQ curve.
You normalize it to the rails.
You charge the client's Visa or PayPal.
You send them a "File's Done!" email with a link to the enhanced WAV file.

I'd run that server all day and night for fifty bucks a pop.

McMaster's-- Over two billion served.

:)

Cheers,
Scott