# Mastering



## jaysfandan (Jan 2, 2009)

where is the best place to send tracks to get a polished professional sound, no matter the cost?


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

you could try richard harrow at canada disc and tape in calgary, he's well respected in the field, i believe he's on a couple of juno winning tracks.. he offered my band to do one song for free, if we liked it, pay him to do the album, if not, then no worries.

i know a woman in toronto who might be interested, PM me if you are, and i'll ask her. she did a fantastic job for my band a few years ago.


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## Andy (Sep 23, 2007)

Paul brought up an excellent point about the loudness wars.

I have several CDs that are full of excellent music, but are virtually unlistenable on a decent playback system because they are SO smashed.

When digital became the primary medium, artists soon discovered that they could use compression and limiting to make their CD louder than competing artists' to a degree that would be impossible with vinyl (it would cause the needle to jump out of the groove).

What happens when you do this, however, is you essentially compress all the dynamics of the mix, and saw off the transient peaks. The mix sounds loud, but it becomes full of distortion, loses its impact, and is fatiguing to listen to. Death Magnetic by Metallica is an excellent example -- it's horrid, even on a car stereo.

You'll want to ensure that your engineer will work to achieve sound quality, not volume, as well as having a great room and great gear (especially monitors).


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## Guest (Jan 3, 2009)

Joao Carvalho did a great job mastering The Apollo Effect's second disc, Anit-Social Disorder. One of the members here, ssdeluxe, is a mastering engineer there. You might want to get in touch with him. They were modern in mastering the album, but I would not say it was heavy handed when it came to brick wall limiting things.


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## Guest (Jan 3, 2009)

Paul said:


> The OP included the phrase _*"no matter the cost"*_, so I'll stand by Gateway Mastering.:smile:


Yea, but it's really only money well spent if Bob Clearmountain mixed it. Otherwise the Magic Duo doesn't give you the best bang for yer buck, ya know? :smile: Clearmountain does mastering as well BTW. I'm sure it's entirely reasonable in price.


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## sysexguy (Mar 5, 2006)

Before you say "not matter what the cost", on gearslutz, several posts reported major releases having $35k+ mastering bills. That being said, even the biggest places may offer a very enticing "indie" rate, even with a known mastering engineer ie. not the intern. Usually the conditions are a certain allowance for delivery time (ie you wait until they get a cancelation) and you cannot attend.

I'd definitely send ssdeluxe a pm, they do great work.

I'd also budget (from experience) the possibility of having to start over with someone else....but I've never used any of the top guys mentioned.

Andy


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

the guys you're mentioning will be WELL into the 5 figures per song. just in case money does matter a little.

edit. just read sysexyguy's post, lol. what he said.


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

Before a good mastering engineer can do magic and put the final polish on a recording, they do need to receive an already excellent product in order to produce excellent results.

Unless you have gone top drawer all the way through the process (tracking, editing, mixing) it will be a difficult job for anyone to _"get a polished professional sound, no matter the cost?"_


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## megadan (Feb 5, 2006)

if money really is no object then there's really no point making any recommendations; you can just get Bob Ludwig to do it.

But in case you actually do have a budget, and would prefer somewhere in Canada, may I recommend

http://www.archivemastering.com/

World class studio and an amazing engineer (and a really nice guy to boot).


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

jaysfandan said:


> where is the best place to send tracks to get a polished professional sound, no matter the cost?


...my cd was mastered by ken o'gorman:

www.holeinthewallstudio.com

ken is in etobicoke. he's a great guy, very affordable and knows what he's doing.

-dh


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## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

__________


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