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- Most mastering services are unattended anyway, so geographical location doesn't really matter. Go with one you either like already based on their client list or one that's been recommended by someone you trust. I've used Tube Mastering (Andy Jackson), SDB mastering in Portugal, and Safe and Sound Mastering in unattended sessions.
- If you do want an attended session, it's going to be a fun day out and you'll be spending hundreds of pounds so you might as well make it a road trip! I've been happy with Fluid Mastering in London.
- If you really want to stick to Brum, the only one I know of personally as having worked on commercial releases is Zak Zikis Mastering based at Circle Studios.
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
I mean, surly to do anything serious it must take more than an hour or 2 ?....The samples Ive heard are just basically louder...and I appreciate that there is a lot more to it than that.
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When we had our last two albums done, it was in the ballpark of £750 for 12 songs and the session lasted from 10am to around 6pm. The first song takes the longest, the problem mixes take a while too, but once the basic mastering chain is dialled in and the engineer knows the issues that are cropping up an easy mix might only take 20 minutes.
Most of the 'name' people (whatever that's worth) seem to be in the £50-£100 per track range, though I've seen Pete Maher's discography and I'm sure he knows what he's doing.
The main thing is, whatever they charge, making sure they actually have the facility to hear your music properly, and the skill set to be able to identify what needs fixed and what needs leaving alone. Plenty of mastering websites, for example, don't even show you their room and would never agree to an attended session in a billion years which is a red flag.
Another one is that they ask for stems before they've tried to master your stereo mix.
Bizarrely, I've found the cheaper ones tend to *do* more stuff. like, put the whole mix through a thick tube compressor to really smooth it out, ask for afforementioned stems to get more control, do more radical EQ shifts that they think sounds good... the more expensive ones kinda give you what you gave them, but better. If that makes sense.
It's a tricky service industry to judge because ideally the mixes already sound the way you want them to sound BEFORE you send them - so in that sense, you should never expect an "oh shit, wow!" moment when you get the masters back - at best they'll sound a bit different. But a good mastering guy will get the master to target volume with less side effects, and in the process fix problems you didn't even notice were problems so that what you actually get with the master is what you thought you already had but maybe didn't with the mix.
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
Theres no reason it has to take a long time to master something if it's mixed well already.
The thing is when you use a specialist you're paying not only for time but also experience and a very high end listening environment. The average home studio isn't in the same league.
£90 would seem cheap for 4 songs though. One thing to be aware of is not all mastering services are really mastering at the same level. I'd avoid people who treat it as an add on service and go for someone who specialises and has a track record doing stuff you think is good
https://www.studiowear.co.uk/ -
https://twitter.com/spark240
Facebook - m.me/studiowear.co.uk
Reddit r/newmusicreview