Turn around time on albums

[ONDRAY]

Allot of sites I see have their mission statement saying that their turn around time is 24-48 hours. With out getting into specifics, what would you say the general consensus on an album turnaround time. next day?? This is for non attended sessions.

[jdg]

i have a goal of about 60min audio a day. and i schedule unatteneded just as i do attended.

so, turn around time depends on how much im booked and what days are free.
for example. right now im free one day next week, and then one day the week after, etc.

if someone sends me 20min EP today, and then i get a 40min full length on tuesday, and my free day is that next wed..... the turn around time for the first guy is about a week, and the second guy, about 24hrs.

pretty sure thats pretty standard for anyone who runs a service business.

hope that helps (or even makes sense)

[Waltz Mastering]

24 - 48 hrs could refer to a song or 2 maybe not a whole album.

TW

[ONDRAY]

Originally Posted by jdg

i have a goal of about 60min audio a day. and i schedule unatteneded just as i do attended.

so, turn around time depends on how much im booked and what days are free.
for example. right now im free one day next week, and then one day the week after, etc.

if someone sends me 20min EP today, and then i get a 40min full length on tuesday, and my free day is that next wed..... the turn around time for the first guy is about a week, and the second guy, about 24hrs.

pretty sure thats pretty standard for anyone who runs a service business.

hope that helps (or even makes sense)

That makes total sense.. for a song or 2 ya. But for albums I like giving it a listen the next day before sending the final.

so really, it's a little bull when a standard policy on a site states 24hour turnaround. This came up when a potential client told me that they're going with another guy because they can get the masters to them tomorrow. I told them, sorry I have others before you and I can't get it until Monday. Oh well, I can't stand people who nit pick on shit like that.

[bob katz]

Originally Posted by ONDRAY

Allot of sites I see have their mission statement saying that their turn around time is 24-48 hours. With out getting into specifics, what would you say the general consensus on an album turnaround time. next day?? This is for non attended sessions.

Well, first let's separate turnaround time from booking time :-). Our lead time last year was as little as a week and as much as 6 weeks. Today, our lead time is about 2 weeks so things have slowed down as they usually do in January. But when the day of the mastering approaches, turnaround is as little as 24 hours or even 6 hours to parts and Fedex or FTP, but you forgot to count the approval time of the reference, etc. I would allocate a week from the day of the mastering session for the client to feel comfortable the sound is exactly as he wants and any revisions to be taken care of.

[Waltz Mastering]

If someone promises 24 hr turnaround time on an album they may not be so busy but you never know. A song or four, I can see.

TW

[prolearts]

We are usually booked out about 6 to 8 weeks in advance. Who is turning things around in 24 to 48 hours!? Holy cow!

I can usually do something like 50 to 60 minutes of audio per day for digital mastering work or if cutting, I can cut 6-ish up to maybe 8 sides per day (8 to 10 hour days).

Whoever can turn things around that fast must not have too many bookings if that's from a first inquiry.

Jason Ward
Chicago Mastering Service

[jval]

I just had a single and an album mastered by Troy Glessner, who does a lot of label stuff... he turned a 9 song album around in 24 hours, and the other track in less time. definitely the fastest turnaround I've ever had... surprising given the stuff he's worked on. And it wasn't booked in advance at all... literally sent the files as soon as they were ready and got it back the next day.
Though I've had experiences with other somewhat 'big name' guys who are booking a month or more in advance and want the material submitted a full week before the session and will turn it around in anywhere from 2 days to a week.

[bgrotto]

Originally Posted by ONDRAY

Allot of sites I see have their mission statement saying that their turn around time is 24-48 hours. With out getting into specifics, what would you say the general consensus on an album turnaround time. next day?? This is for non attended sessions.

I've had a couple job offers from folks who want to set up an online, mail-in mix service and hire me as a mix engineer. It'd be nice for the extra income (especially because a couple of them have been in overseas markets I have limited access to), but some of these folks wanted to guarantee those kinds of turnaround times. Lately I find myself booked pretty solidly a month or three in advance, so that's simply impossible, even for a single song (let alone, the [hopefully!!] multiple mixes these services would generate!). And I'm a relative nobody!!

I think, as mentioned before, those who can guarantee those kinds of turnaround times simply aren't working elsewhere!

[jayfrigo]

We're generally booked out 3-6 weeks here, but if it's just a song or two, or if it's an emergency and I can rearrange some unattended stuff, I'll get it in ASAP. It's not always possible given the schedule, and 24 hours is practically impossible. Then again, it's always worth asking because there can be cancellations, stray open days, or who knows what. I'll squeeze it in somewhere if at all possible!

Still, in general, I think it's a good sign if your guy is busy, and it's just common-sense, good advice to plan ahead. Life can throw curve balls at you, but try not to throw them at yourself!

[Jerry Tubb]

Originally Posted by ONDRAY

what would you say the general consensus on an album turnaround time

33 and 1/3 revolutions per minute?

JT

[lucey]

Originally Posted by ONDRAY

Allot of sites I see have their mission statement saying that their turn around time is 24-48 hours. With out getting into specifics, what would you say the general consensus on an album turnaround time. next day?? This is for non attended sessions.

A single or even a 3-4 song demo can be done in a hurry if needed. A full record can be done same day if they've planned ahead for it. But in general ... it takes as long as it takes to get to it and do it right.

[macc]

Originally Posted by Jerry Tubb

33 and 1/3 revolutions per minute?

JT

[Thomas W. Bethe]

You guys are lucky. A lot of the phone calls we get are "I got this CD that is due at the pressing plant tomorrow and I need to get it mastered. Can I come over this afternoon and can you get it done before the post office closes?" This at 1 pm and the caller lives 30 minutes from here.

[jayfrigo]

Originally Posted by Thomas W. Bethe

You guys are lucky. A lot of the phone calls we get are "I got this CD that is due at the pressing plant tomorrow and I need to get it mastered. Can I come over this afternoon and can you get it done before the post office closes?" This at 1 pm and the caller lives 30 minutes from here.

Oh, believe me, we get those calls... Can't help them, but we sure get them! You would think making a record would benefit from a little planning, but sometimes these young guys are impulsive. The enthusiasm is commendable, though I wish sometimes they would temper it with reason.

[24-96 Mastering]

Turnaround aim for eMastering here (from receiving all source data) is 5 days. A lot of the emastering stuff isn't full albums though, so I can shuffle things around as needed. Can't guarantee it, but I try.
Generally, with eMastering, I experience a LOT of fluctuation, no idea why. Maybe that's the nature of the internet... Someone recommends you on some musician's internet forum and the next day you get a bunch session orders, all at once.

[mrlouie]

do you mean for a booking?
time could be open the next day or a couple weeks later, just all depends when you call.

if you mean time for working on an album (lets say 15 songs or less) once it's booked. I'll start at 11am and have refs for you to listen by the end of the day 8pm, 9pm, 10pm .. depends on how many songs , how much editing is needed ... but when i leave to go home its done, ready to be picked up next morning or fedex out next day.

[jayfrigo]

Yeah, once started, the typical album is usually a single day affair.

[djwaudio]

Originally Posted by ONDRAY

Allot of sites I see have their mission statement saying that their turn around time is 24-48 hours. With out getting into specifics, what would you say the general consensus on an album turnaround time. next day?? This is for non attended sessions.

I don't use any sort of turn time hype to promote the studio. When the client calls, we compare their schedule needs with our capacity. *Then* I make a commitment to deliver.

Often, we can pull a rabbit out of the hat for clients in a rush. I've worked on mastering while the last tracks on the album are still being mixed. After loading the last of what I had, I check the server and there's another track ready to go.

I like doing an album project in one day, up to about seven hours of actual session work, which covers just about any full-length album project.

I find that if I'm very busy, then a natural flow helps keep things moving. Those are the times when I actually welcome more work!

[AUDIOBOMBER]

i use to work on audio not more than 5 hours a day couse i realized that my hearing and concentration massively decrease after.
sometimes an whole album is possible within that time
sometimes i only get 2 - 3 songs done...
depending on source , daytime , having been out the day before , having had sex , weather condition , food , cosmic relations etc...

nevertheless, 3 days ago i went through a 36 songs double cd nightmare with recordings from the 80`s and 90`s which took me 14 hours nonstop couse it had to be done within one day

and today i met a customer who gently asked me if his album which he gave me two month ago is already done.
i had to tell him that i forgot and that i shurely will have it done by this week

so - as you can see - my turnaround is somehere between 6 hours and 2 month.

usually 3-5 days should be fine

[SPECTRE MASTER]

troy glessner here...spectre mastering in WA...realize this is an old thread but i thought id chime in since i was mentioned as one of the guys with a fast turn around..i work everyday on 5 to 7 projects a week....in general i tell people 5 days to a week for turn around for non attendings...but i can do it faster if i know its a rush.....90% of my work is non attendings...this makes my schedule incredibly flexible...and im one of those guys that loves a challenge of bringing things in on schedule an on or under budget.....so if i have the time and i can move stuff around for other clients that are ahead of schedule and pull of a 24 hr turn around for a client that is desperately behind ill make that happen.....in a business that is constantly behind schedule and over budget...coming in on time and on budget is almost unheard of....but thats what i strive to do....whether im working for atlantic records....or an unsigned band from canada.