in fact here you go:
Equipment and Techniques
We us a combination of high quality hardware and software to produce your final mastered recordings and
return them to you in 16bit 44.1 KHz WAV format.
We build our mastering suite around one of the world’s most professional DSP based applications
CreamWare. We utilize no less than 15 SHARC DSP chips (typically you would find 1 or 2 of these DSP
chips in a high quality synthesiser such as a Super Nova or Nord). This combination of hardware and
software gives our engineers the flexibility of generating the complex analogue logarithms needed to
produce your digital masters.
During the mastering process your recording is always kept in its digital state and at the highest possible
sample rates ensuring crystal clear quality throughout.
A typical series of equipment used in the mastering process would be -
Master Verb Pro™ - Top Quality Stereo Reverb Unit
Used to add space if required
Vinco S™ - High-End Vintage Compressor
An exact replica of the world most famous hardware compressor, used to analogue warmth
Graphic EQ S™ - 31 Band Stereo Graphic Equaliser
Allows for the ultimate control, enhancement or correction of your audio
PSY Q™ - Psycho Acoustic Processor
For giving bass tones, impact and loudness to the mix. Top end sparkle and stereo enhancement
OptiMaster™- Intelligent Mastering Processor
The OptiMaster contains a Normaliser, Multiband Expander, Multiband
Compressor and Multiband Limiter providing the rms and pressure needed.
Apple Mac Pro - Quad Zeon Digital Audio Workstation
We use the highest quality audio machines to give our engineers the most control
over your recordings.
Pioneer HDJ-2000 - DJ Headphones
We recognize that the majority of our customer base are dance labels so we
ensure all music we master sounds amazing through DJ head phones.
Monitoring - Mackie HR824, Yamaha MSP5A, Audio Spectrum Analyser
Audio is monitored through a range of high-end full dynamic range, medium and low-end level
speaker alongside visual tools to ensure the audio will sound the best it can on everything, from a
club sound system to your iPod.
sorry to burst your bubble wayne… but thats garbage.
Check out [url]http://www.deluxemastering.com.au/studio/our-equipment/[/url]. Jack is one of the better guys in the industry.
I wouldn’t have put it so bluntly, but yes there are better options out there. Jack is definitely good and one that I’ve used in the past is http://www.discmakers.com/ They are top notch.
[quote]jbachjr78 (19/02/2011)[hr]I wouldn’t have put it so bluntly, but yes there are better options out there. Jack is definitely good and one that I’ve used in the past is http://www.discmakers.com/ They are top notch.[/quote]
Really? You would recommend them to master a trance track? It looks to me like they only do middle of the road rock, I think if I was paying $99 to master a track I would want them to have some experience in the style I was producing. In fact for that price I would want a couple of big tracks under their belts.
Hey Ant. Just a bit of insight on this one. $99 is pretty good for mastering a track. Usually when a mastering engineer masters something, they have multiple reference tracks, usually one in every genre, that they know the sound of inside and out. They will go back to the track when they are mastering a similar sounding track to it (genre wise) to get the sound right. I didn’t look at the site that in depth, but maybe they do great work. And just because they don’t do alot of a specific genre, doesn’t mean that they are not credible. But IMO, it all starts with the gear, and from the looks of it, they have that down.
[quote]howiegroove (20/02/2011)[hr]Hey Ant. Just a bit of insight on this one. $99 is pretty good for mastering a track. Usually when a mastering engineer masters something, they have multiple reference tracks, usually one in every genre, that they know the sound of inside and out. They will go back to the track when they are mastering a similar sounding track to it (genre wise) to get the sound right. I didn’t look at the site that in depth, but maybe they do great work. And just because they don’t do alot of a specific genre, doesn’t mean that they are not credible. But IMO, it all starts with the gear, and from the looks of it, they have that down.[/quote]
I am in no position to argue this, so I accept what you say. But when I get to this stage, if I have a choice, I will choose a mastering studio with experience of dance music.
As for price I assumed, and I haven’t researched this much so could be way off, that $99 for online mastering was near the top end for price. Obviously going to the studio and getting involved costs a lot more. Abbey road do online mastering for £90 per track and I think their equipment and engineers are near the top of the game.
All of this is academic as Wayne doesn’t have a choice of mastering studio. I still think that the mastering studio said to the label “file must be at least 16 bit wav” and the label passed that on to Wayne as “file must be 16 bit wav”.
label worx works with loads of dance labels, in fact I have a number of tune from labels that would have been mastered by them which all sound good to me. Anyway I’m not paying, its not my department so I dont care, I;ll leave it to the label
[quote]gofunk (20/02/2011)[hr]…Anyway I’m not paying, its not my department so I dont care, I;ll leave it to the label[/quote]
Congrats on the opportunity!
Though I would say you probably do care that the final cut is well received and gives you a good reputation.
If Wrox’s equipment can’t handle basic CD quality audio (i.e. 24-bit) then I guess you have to decide if you trust your label, and they are going to give you a sound you like.
BTW, are you able to output more than 16-bit?
yeah I use ableton so can output higher, I sent a 24bit last time but it got sent back
[quote]gofunk (20/02/2011)[hr]yeah I use ableton so can output higher, I sent a 24bit last time but it got sent back[/quote]
bastards!!!
I would have done the same thing.
[quote]lattetown (20/02/2011)
If Wrox’s equipment can’t handle basic CD quality audio (i.e. 24-bit) ?[/quote]
CD quality is 16 bit, not 24 bit.
I hear ya Ant about them doing rock, but their plant is around the corner from me and visited it myself. When I created my first house song (which was a bismal and was mixed by an outdated producer) I went to them and asked if they have any engineers who are versed in this genre and they did. As Howie pointed out, they asked me for reference songs of who I wanted the song to sound like. Also, I would always recommend going to who you feel most comfortable with. I think that’s key. The one thing that I really liked about them is that I was able to sit in on the session which is very hard to find. IMO I think the more that you can be around your project from start to finish then the better you’ll feel about it and the more you’ll learn. Unfortunately, the mix sounded bad because I trusted this guy to mix the song (before I got to mastering) who is really outdated, but I was new and thought he could handle it. Does anyone remember this song? This is the producer who I used: