online mixing + mastering ? can be good ?

[isham]

Dear all ,
I found many interesting posts on this forum about this subject.
In my opinion mixing process can't be disociated from the mastering session (maybe I'm wrong).
I mean I don't find the advantage, as I'm not a pro, to send my final mixing to a company if there are some mixing issues, to perform a mastering.

So my question is : does someone have expirience with "online mixing + mastering" services ? I mean without going to the studio ?

Any good adress ?
thanks a lot

[MASSIVE Master]

I'm not sure I understand the question, but I deal with several studios that "mix by mail" - Clients will send in "home brewed" tracks, along with a representative mix of what they're shooting for as far as levels are concerned and they'll (the studios) will attempt to make a more polished and refined set of mixes for them.

Two places that come to mind - www.farviewrecording.com and www.bluebearsound.com

After that, they may or may not send it off to a mastering facility for a final "detailing" job and assembly of the production master.

One place that comes to mind - Well, I won't go there.

But in short, it all depends on what you're trying to get out of your project.

If it helps at all, I think Blue Bear Sound actually has some examples of just what we're talking about here on his site.

[isham]

thanks a lot,

yes that was exactly my question (mastering studio offering online services from the mixing step to the end),
I will check these adresses,

other experiences to share ?

Best Regards,

[masteringhouse]

I haven't had the op to work with farview but agree with John in regards to Blue Bear Sound. He does very good work.

Mixing online is a bit more difficult though than mastering in my opinion as there are quite a few more variables to contend with. If doing it, I would allow myself plenty of time to evaluate proofs etc.

[merla]

Ive had some great results with both online mixing and mastering. The best deal (and sound for that matter) i had with cavestudio-online, I think they are relativey new but it was certainly the most reasonable price by far. They did the mastering for free with the mixing (which seems to make sense).
Definitely recommended!

[MASSIVE Master]

Originally Posted by merla

They did the mastering for free with the mixing (which seems to make sense).

(emphasis added for impact)

(A) No it doesn't.

(B) How old is this thread?

[brethes@mac.com]

Originally Posted by merla

They did the mastering for free with the mixing (which seems to make sense).
Definitely recommended!

Not sure how to read this. We do a lot of online mixing & mastering, but while we quote a competitive package price, the mastering certainly isn't free.

If you mean that mixing and mastering are both integral to the final result, and that it makes sense having it all done at the same time to be able to make adjustments to the mix or the mastering very quickly, I would agree only with some caveats: not many good mixing engineers are capable of doing great mastering, and mastering something you have also mixed is very difficult. It may require a separate room with mastering monitors and a good night's sleep in-between the sessions in order to be more objective about what the mix require. This why the general advice is to have separate mixing & mastering engineers.

But a handful of engineers successfully manage to do both and if you are on a very deadline, it can make sense having it all done under one roof.

[DominicWyeth]

There are some dudes in brisbane that do reasonably priced online mastering stuff and I have heard nothing but good responses.


Its a great idea personally, I wonder if any super geeks out there would no if any FTP processing would do anything to the final audio track...I wouldn't think so...but you never know

[inlinenl]

watch out FTP can be very tricky, if sending against the turning direction off the earth, the phase and DC offset can switch channels. I heard some major mastering-engineer talk it over with a platinum USA artist. Don't let anyone tell you different, they try to poison your mind.

[brethes@mac.com]

Originally Posted by DominicWyeth

I wonder if any super geeks out there would no if any FTP processing would do anything to the final audio track...I wouldn't think so...but you never know

No FTP doesn't change the audio. To be absolutely safe, you can Zip the files so there is checksum involved at the other end. We haven't had any problems in a very long time. But avoid sending SDII file format unless Zipped, as the header info can get stripped, rendering the files unreadable by common applications.