Online Mastering

[MACHINE]

What do you guys think of online mastering? do you guys know any good online mastering studios ?

[jdunn]

Gearslutz' own Brian Lucey accepts files via ftp server, and I'm pretty sure Brad Blackwood does too.

Here's their links.

Magic Garden Mastering

Euphonic Masters

Here's another place I found which looks to be pretty high quality as well, and there's a little web forum.

XARC Mastering

[terminal3]

Metropolis Studios ... click 'iMastering' on the left side. Not terribly cheap (£75/track) but pretty world-class, although I've heard that at that price you can't pick your engineer. That said, I doubt there's any buffoons working there...

[Jose Mrochek]

Arent all ¨online mastering studios¨?

Just open an ftp account and send the files back and forth.

Anyways, I suggest Brad Blackwood.

[MASSIVE Master]

There are several "online only" mastering facilities. Most of them make me a little nervous...

But as mentioned, almost any mastering facility offers online transfers for digital files. So find a place within your budget and take your pick. But use your common sense - There are plenty of (how do I put this) places out there that aren't exactly, uh...

Just use common sense, mmmkay?

[terminal3]

Originally Posted by MASSIVE Master

There are several "online only" mastering facilities. Most of them make me a little nervous...

But as mentioned, almost any mastering facility offers online transfers for digital files. So find a place within your budget and take your pick. But use your common sense - There are plenty of (how do I put this) places out there that aren't exactly, uh...

Just use common sense, mmmkay?

16 year olds with Wavelab, a [k] version of Waves Mastering and the best Behringer monitors money can buy, no doubt.

I think the idea with some of the aforementioned houses is that they can do it when they please, they don't have to book out the room and the engineer during prime time etc. so they save money. Or maybe it is just better marketing...

[MASSIVE Master]

It even gets worse... I've seen sites with phony gear lists, MY gear lists, others' gear lists, phony audio samples, phony photos, MY photos, others' photos...

A lot of these guys get tripped up and called out on the forums (which is always a good time) but then they're right back at it. It's hillarious and sad at the same time...

I just feel sorry for the "noobs" - I would think (I would hope) that they're the only ones who are really being fooled by most of those places. And it's sad that their introduction into the industry can leave them with such a warped view of it.

[terminal3]

Originally Posted by MASSIVE Master

It even gets worse... I've seen sites with phony gear lists, MY gear lists, others' gear lists, phony audio samples, phony photos, MY photos, others' photos...

A lot of these guys get tripped up and called out on the forums (which is always a good time) but then they're right back at it. It's hillarious and sad at the same time...

I just feel sorry for the "noobs" - I would think (I would hope) that they're the only ones who are really being fooled by most of those places. And it's sad that their introduction into the industry can leave them with such a warped view of it.

That's terrifying.

Personally I wouldn't be so concerned about the bad mastering job, but rather sending a good track with good original ideas to people like that... g-d knows what they might do.

[xist]

I add my experience (it's been one year and half ago more or less): when I've contacted one of these online mastering services, I also asked about their gearlist. It was a basic question, in my opinion. But I got only a "we can't say what we use, but be sure it's good, bla bla bla" style reply.
Of course I preferred to go to a more expensive (but with a great history behind them) Sonic based studio in my country.

I hope to find a good online solution next time, even if I think that it's hard to replace the phisical dialogue with the engineer!

[MASSIVE Master]

Originally Posted by xist

...But I got only a "we can't say what we use, but be sure it's good, bla bla bla" style reply.

That's always a good one...

I was watching a thread on a different forum with this one a**hole... Fraud, know-nothin' obnoxious as you could ever imagine, clueless nitwit (sorry, I really hate the guy) - Been a thorn in my side for a couple years now.

One day as he's spreading his usual thick layer of B.S., a few guys on the forum ask "So hey dude, where's your gear list?" He skates around it for a couple days, about how a "true Mastering Engineer (with the capital letters included) would NEVER reveal the gear he uses" and on and on...

This immediately threw the forum into a bit of a frenzy against him, so he finally capitulated to the pressure - and posted MY gear list!

Except for the speakers for some reason... Everything else, word-for-word, even the custom stuff, and then only posted my Wharfedales (that I use for casual listening here and there or to show a client what the mix might sound like on a typical stereo system).

On top of that, he had a photo representation on his site - Of course, from another rather well-known facility...

Freakin' a**hole...

Sorry - Flashbacks...