My GOD I'm PISSED!!!

[MASSIVE Master]

I'm not usually the type to get hyper about this kind of stuff, but this is blatant. I was browsing some mastering pages online and ran across this...

www.audiomaster.co.uk/studio.html

Nice enough page, until I scrolled down to the bottom - THAT'S A (cropped) PICTURE OF MY MASTERING ROOM!!! Hell, they didn't even take the MASSIVE Mastering logos off of the computer screens!

You may notice a disturbingly similar (although somewhat more recent) photo on the MASSIVE site at

www.massivemastering.com/html/gallery1_7.html

Anyway, I was prepared to write a letter just in case they saw a photo somewhere that they wanted to use to represent a setup, but THEN, I noticed that the image is actually called "AUDIOMASTERROOM.GIF" which is obviously a blantant attempt at deception...

Better take a look at the other pages - On the home page, there's a nice photo of an obviously sweet control room - I wonder who's room THAT is? WTF?!?

Gee, I wonder how Bob Ludwig would feel if I grabbed a snapshot of his desk and renamed it "massivemasteringroom.jpg" and put it on my site... I've got a feeling that his lawyers would be knocking at my door in a heartbeat.

Damn it! Why do I have to find this kind of $hit right before I'm going to bed!?!

[Jules]

Wow, do you think they deal only with unattended sessions and could get away with this kind of decption?

[RoundBadge]

Well, it looks like they've removed the pics but what a shady setup.No true professional would post another sites pics...a bunch of plug in pictures.wheres the real gear?? smells of amatuer ,Looks sketch!

[C.Lambrechts]

I remember a similar thing happening to Gateway in Portland, ME.

[MASSIVE Master]

Boy, that sure came down fast - I screen capped it last night just so you don't think I'm

http://www.massivemastering.com/spec...sterRipOff.jpg

Yeah, I certainly don't have a problem with the "plug" shots - Hell, I use a set myself. But a photo of the room??? With the logos still on the screens???

I see the bad-ass control room shot from the home page is down also... I wonder who's room it was...

[MASSIVE Master]

UPDATE: After I read through the site this morning, I found that a fair portion of the TEXT COPY on his site was lifted DIRECTLY from the (older version by a few months) Massive Mastering site also! Holy cow!

I sent him an e-mail - He actually replied fairly quickly. He stated that the site was put together by an ad agency. Now maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I'm a little suspicious, myself. I mean, there are entire paragraphs that were lifted straight out that carry quite a bit of detail about MY setup. I would think that even if their DAW was exactly the same, the agency would want most of the copy from the client...

I work a small bunch of websites myself... I'll edit copy, but I'm not going to write it for a specialty service company.

grudge

[flexoffset]

That 'ad agency' .... if they did that with his site, they're probably doing the same thing with their own ad agency site.

Any ad agency worth their salt wouldn't touch a photograph or copy text.... too much pride on the line.

[roughly]

Amazing, Obviously a very creative outfit. BTW can i use your pics on our site too?
Oh ya send me your samplers too !

Off the subject, Seriously, you're really close to us, i would like to hear your work. I hate mastering - And it would be great to have someone close by to send work to.


jeffrey

[RoundBadge]

"ad agency" Sounds like a huge crock ofdfegad

[mooboy]

Originally posted by Jules
Wow, do you think they deal only with unattended sessions and could get away with this kind of decption?

From the FAQ on their site: "We keep our overheads down by keeping your mastering sessions unattended." Basically, you mail everything in and hope to god it's not actually a butcher shop!

Massive, did you ever get an actual apology from these losers?

[MASSIVE Master]

I wouldn't call it an "apology" exactly...

And last time I checked, there were still a lot of word-for-word from my site (I've since changed some of MY text just for fun).

I also found a site that ripped their text straight off of the Xarc site.

Whatcha gonna do...

[theslingerland]

Hate to say this but if the website had been made by someone else wouldn't it have their contact name and logo somewhere on the website.

Call me suss but I don't think any web design company would fail to advertise on sites they had designed?

Anyhow, I think to look on the bright side, whoever picked your pictures apparently had taste eh!!??

[MASSIVE Master]

I agree... If for no other reason, "Ad Agency" or not, I would think the CLIENT needs to supply that type of copy...

On top of that, I do my own website because I can't / don't want to pay an agency or designer.

If I was charging 100 Euro to master an entire album, I don't think I'd EVER be able to afford an agency.

A little barter action with a band that has a web guy as a bassist? Maybe...