Mastering services in the North East

[Marky]

Hi all,

First thread on the forum, though I've been lurking here for a while; great forum I have to say.

I'd like some input as to good quality, decently priced mastering services in the North East US, preferably (but not completely necessary) within a couple of hours drive of Boston.

The style of music is funky techno, essentially solid club music. If possible, I'd like to sit in on the session.

Any ideas, price ranges, sluts?

Thanks

- Mark

[Drumsound]

Gateway is in Maine. That's Notheast right...

[Riccardo]

Gateway is in the north east but I doubt that Bob, one of the best known names (together with Grundman) in the industry will be cheap.

[TER]

M-Works is a great place. Jonathan Wyner consistently does the best work in Boston, in my opinion. I'm not sure what your budget is, but there are a few choices in the over $100/hr studios, and a couple in the under $100 category.

This is the cream of the Boston crop:

M-Works, Jonathan Wyner
Sound Mirror, Mark Donahue
Peerless, Jeff Lipton
Northeastern Digital, Toby Mountain


Gateway is in the top few houses internationally, but is not too far away. Not cheap, though, as pointed out above.

If you need to find less expensive options, post again and I'll see what I can find. I do a fair amount of mastering work here, but it's entirely in the folk/acoustic/acoustic pop/roots vein. You should make sure your mastering engineer likes and has a familiarity with the kind of music you're doing. I would have no idea what the target was for mastering a club record, as I can't say I've ever heard one!

-tom

[Marky]

Thanks for the responses, guys; I will look into these.

I realize techno is one genre where the mastering engineer needs to understand where the music is coming from, so my preference would be a mastering house that has some experience in this area.

Price point : around $100 is a round-enough figure we could afford. For exceptional results, I'd be willing to pay a bit more.

- Mark

[cgarges]

I hope you meant around $1000 and not $100. If you have $1000 to spend, I'd second the Toby Mountain recommendation. If not, I don't know what to tell you.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Marky]

Chris,

I meant $100+ /hour rate (in response to TER's question on my budget).

$1000 total to master a couple of tracks seems excessive?

[TonyBelmont]

Call Adam Ayan over at Gateway Mastering..... He's kind of like Bob's apprentice, and he's been there for quite a while. I'm sure he's picked up something from being over there with Bob, and I have a couple clients who were very happy with him. Not sure what he charges though, but it's less than Bob for sure....

[cgarges]

Originally posted by Marky
Chris,

I meant $100+ /hour rate (in response to TER's question on my budget).

$1000 total to master a couple of tracks seems excessive?

Gotcha! Look into Northeastern Digital. Toby does good work.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[De chromium cob]

Larry Devivo at Silvertone Mastering has always done right by me....

[Fletcher]

Originally posted by TER
M-Works is a great place. Jonathan Wyner consistently does the best work in Boston, in my opinion.

I'm afraid I don't share that opinion... but that's OK too.

I'm not sure what your budget is, but there are a few choices in the over $100/hr studios, and a couple in the under $100 category.

This is the cream of the Boston crop:

M-Works, Jonathan Wyner
Sound Mirror, Mark Donahue
Peerless, Jeff Lipton
Northeastern Digital, Toby Mountain

While I haven't worked with Mark, I've had work done by all of the others listed and have to say that without a doubt I found Jeff Lipton's work to be the best. Hands down.

I don't know how Toby Mountain stays in business... I think he may very well possibly be one of the worst mastering engineers on the planet... only Steve Marcussen may be worse from where I sit... I know Marcussen has done more damage to the industry but Toby has ruined more than a few re-releases in his time.

As always... YMMV.

[TER]

Tell us what you really think, Fletcher!

Jonathan has done great work for me...he works hard to make things sound good for the client...and he's a stickler for detail, which I like.

Last year someone from Peerless called me and gave me an over-the-top sales pitch, with little fact and lots of fluff. The caller was rude when I started asking serious questions. It pissed me off and I've never taken any work there (not that that impacts them much!). The records I've heard that Jeff has done sound good. I am doing a record now that will likely go to Peerless, as he did the last one by this particular artist.

Toby (Northeastern) has done a few things that I've mixed in the last couple of years. The masters feel bright and lean to me...I talked to him about it and he told me he felt brighter records were more competitive...I disagreed, but he's got more mileage and better credits than I do, so he wins in his room.

SoundMirror does great work, but as far as I know it's mostly classical. I don't think Toby OR SoundMirror would be the place to bring a house record. I was just listing the top end of the local mastering scene.

Adam at Gateway got Bob's blessing, so that means something, but I've not heard his work.

-tom

[Brad Blackwood]

Originally posted by TER
Toby (Northeastern) has done a few things that I've mixed in the last couple of years. The masters feel bright and lean to me...I talked to him about it and he told me he felt brighter records were more competitive...

Wow.

God forbid they just sound good...

[Marky]

Thanks guys for the info, i've got plenty of options to research now.