How much about does it cost to get into commercial mastering

[HIGHENDONLY]

Not counting the room, how much does it cost to set up a highend commercial mastering studio?

[Darius van H]

Depends whether you're buying new, or second hand, and exactly how high end you wanna go, but 100,000 euro would be a good starting point.

[jayfrigo]

A commercial mastering studio is not simply gear. The room is of paramount importance. Don't buy fancy outboard and skimp on the room. In addition to gear and a room, you need to have client spaces, support spaces, furnishings and decorations etc. Next, you may want a staff member or two (support, or a primary engineer, especially if you don't have a credit list and client base of your own), and there are many other costs and tasks associated with setting up a business. You need business licenses, insurance, advertising, operating capital (especially to get you through the first year until cash flow evens out) accounting, consumable supplies, furniture (custom studio pieces and general furnishings) and maintenance. So many people just ask "what gear do I buy?" (or it is implied as the primary or only concern) when that is not even half the issue in running a commercial facility.

All that said, the 100k figure above sounds about right for the gear if you don't want to get too complex. That won't get you a Sterling or a Gateway complement of gear, but it will get you a no-nonsense professional setup that you won't have to make apologies for. Add as much again for a room, and half as much again for the rest of the startup costs, and you have yourself a business. It's easy to spend two or three times that much if you want to (more if you buy the real-estate), but we're talking high-end entry-level here. Don't forget to budget for wiring when thinking about gear. It adds up, especially if you remote the computer, or set up a server.

Or you could get a mastering DAW and a couple pieces of outboard and put them in an existing room with some treatments hung on the wall and still get some clients, but that's a different proposal. You can still do some decent work, make a few bucks, and grow a client base, but an expensive EQ and compressor alone does not make a high-end commercial facility.

[cristian_vogel]

Commercial Mastering is one of the most competitive areas of music production. Bear this in mind, because things boil down to how much high-end equipment you have ( and other studios don't ) and how affordable you can make your high end rig.

After many years of hard work and consistent good quality mastering, you can maybe make a name for yourself as a mastering engineer who's name adds weight to a final release. But this takes time, dedication, study, and innovation as well as access to a whole lot of expensive equipment ( and a room in which you can actually make decisions on where to take a master)

It also depends very much on where in the world you are working. Things are getting even more competitive now that FTP mastering is getting popular.

Ever since getting my first records mastered and cut in the UK, at The Exchange and even Porky's back in 91, I've had a keen interest of the art of mastering.

In only the last 2 years have I decided to enter the market as a commercial mastering engineer, here in Barcelona. Clients choose me because I can offer something that most other mastering engineers cannot - that is, a lot of experience as a musician, recording artist, DJ and producer. I tend to spend quite a few days on a mastering job, but price things according to the budgets available.

Anyway, to answer your question : it costs a lot of money, and you need a lot of realworld experience.

[HIGHENDONLY]

I'm not making something for a business, i'm making it for myself. It's a hobby for me, that's it. I just want a really great rig. I just got into the audio field lil over year ago. This stuff is fun. Expensive but fun..

[lucey]

Originally Posted by HIGHENDONLY

I'm not making something for a business, i'm making it for myself. It's a hobby for me, that's it. I just want a really great rig. I just got into the audio field lil over year ago. This stuff is fun. Expensive but fun..

Then you're really not making a commerical room, so just do whatever you want and have fun with it.

[HIGHENDONLY]

Originally Posted by lucey

Then you're really not making a commerical room, so just do whatever you want and have fun with it.

But do you have any pieces of gear i should really check out?

[StephenMarsh]

My 2 cents -

these days - the mastering business is such that anyone can rwead a magazine, buy gear claim to known what they're doing after mastering a dozen releases or so.

The sad reality is - everyone else out there is trying to do that too - which means actually making any moneyat it, long term, is just not going to happen unless you can bring a little more to the table in the form of your discography and experience.

In addition - xconsider that ,these days mastering engineers must compete not only with each other for work, but also with every mixer and producer that's short on work that month and trying to make ends meet. It can be challenging for even the msot established mastering engineers to make sense out of the current tide of business.

Bottom line: No amount of gear will overcome a lack of knowledge and experience. Easily the two most valuable pieces of gear for ANY good mastering engineer. Modern mastering is a gun fight - leave the knife at home and hire a pro.

--Steph

[Fabio]

Originally Posted by HIGHENDONLY

I'm not making something for a business, i'm making it for myself. It's a hobby for me, that's it. I just want a really great rig. I just got into the audio field lil over year ago. This stuff is fun. Expensive but fun..

Use plug ins!! With them you can reach a very good level for your projects! Or you could buy an used finalizer...also a good solution!

If you want to take some highend gear, in the forum there are many and many threads about the item and the point is that all the parts of a mastering chain are really important and of course the best are your mix the best will be the final result!!

However the first thing is the monitoring system (B&W, PMC etc.) and then Daw. Maybe you already have something.

Then you need some good converter if you go for analogue gear or you can stay in digital or both...
Some good solutions used in many studies:
Coverter: Hedd, Apogee, Mytek, Lavry Blue; (then if you have a lot of money see for Prism and Lavry Gold!!)
Compressor: Cranesong STD 8 + tubey comp like Gyraf, Manley and Phoenix, and/or something more aggressive like VCA type, SSL or Smart C2 (it depends on your goals). Tubetech multiband is also really nice.
Eq: Millennia and/or tubey eq Massive Passive, Gyraf. Millennia (more neutral) is used above all in mastering MP (tubey) in rec/mix and mastering.
Limiter: there are many plug ins...in hardware you can go for L2 Waves (both analog and digital)
In Digital you can go for Weiss (comp/limiter/de esser or/and Eq) or Tc 6000 mastering system.
Then there is the de-esser, expander, etc...

All these gears are used in many commercial mastering studios!! I have talked according to my experience but of course there are many other solutions that you can consider!