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Originally Posted by GearGeek  I'm not sure where I read that. It could be. Here's a link to one of the Mastering Studios rates I was checking out. Mastering Lab : Rate Sheet |
Notice that Doug Sax at the Mastering Lab is $450/hr. To work with the elite, you'll pay elite prices, including parts. Places like Sterling, Gateway, and Sony etc. will have similar prices.
In the real world for the rest of us, it's usually based on the time, not the media. Even though a CDR is under a buck, you need to charge for the time it takes time in the studio to set it up, burn a DDP image at speeds that won't risk corruption, and then burn a couple discs from it, again at reasonable speeds that produce discs with the lowest error count (4X often works well these days with the common Plextor/Taiyo Yuden combo), prepare the PQ log, error test the disc, and do the QC listening pass. If the studio charges $125 hour, and a full length album takes 2 hours to complete the process above for the average full-length CD, it's going to cost you $250. If the studio charges studio time while it does all that work, and still charges $250 for the master, then you're being taken advantage of.
In our studio, the studio clock stops after EQ/edit time, and creating parts is done off the clock, but priced according to the average time it takes to create and verify the parts in question. Labels and other clients alike often like to see fixed costs for parts so that if they make an additional parts order for a different market or a myriad of other reasons, they can count on what it will cost. Parts charges are usually not a recoupable expense for the label either (considered a manufacturing expense), so separating the items for billing helps in accounting as well. Still, it's the time and labor you're paying for. The media is free.
If a studio keeps the clock running while creating parts, the media price should be quite small by comparison. Either way, studio time and labor is the mystery behind the price of parts. It's just how they break it out on the bill.