_Summary: First master is free (I only ask a FB like & share), standard mastering is £15 per track. Can PM on here or through FB page https://www.facebook.com/clearskymastering/
Ok a bit about my history, I used to run an online mastering company. I didn’t get enough work to go full time but it made a nice supplemental income as well as boosting my audio skills. I have 10 years experience working with audio, have mastered tracks for artists across multiple genres (many that have been released), used to charge £25 a track and this was my setup:-
Monitoring
K&H O300’s
Benchmark DAC1
Outboard
RME ADI-2
SSL Buss-Comp Clone
ITB
UAD,
Various other plugins
Now I’ve simplified my setup, I run completely ITB with my Benchmark DAC1 and Sennheiser HD600’s (coupled with Sonarworks). I’m looking to build up a client-base again from scratch and so have dropped my rates just to “get going again”. For the first track all I ask is for a like and share of the FB page https://www.facebook.com/clearskymastering/ and in return you get a mastered full-length song to hear what I can do. I will post some before + after examples that I make in here as well. As well as my own promo for my service I will be posting more information on things like mixing and mastering on these accounts
Requirements
If you’ve had tracks mastered before you should be familiar with the format required:-
NO stereo buss processing (EQ, compression, limiting etc)
NO Dithering
Individual channel processing and buss processing is fine (e.g yes you can put compression on your drum buss)
Leave some headroom (bounce it out with between 3-6db of headroom and it should be fine)
If you have references for tracks you like the sound of then tell me
16-bit ok / 24-bit preferred / 32-bit no
Sample rate 44KHz Preferred but higher is ok
Tails (leave a few seconds either side of the start and finish so you aren’t chopping anything valuable, like your reverb tails!)
Contact
To get in touch either PM me here or through the FB https://www.facebook.com/clearskymastering/ with the premaster. In the PM put a link to the Premaster from a site like Mediafire, dropbox etc. Tell me the info you need like references etc and tell me the name you used to like/share the page.
First Mastering Example from this is now up. As well as hearing what has been done I have given a full description of what I did in the mastering session to get that sound. Read the youtube description for all the info and subscribe if you want to read more briefs from future mastering sessions.
Guys that means I am now free to take on another track, the rules are the same as before (but I would prefer a genre other than DNB to add to the portfolio!)
Ok mate, it’s good timing because I’m in the middle of another master right now so no rush!
If you want, you can send me your self-master as well as the pre and maybe I can give you some pointers about what is good/bad about the way you are mastering.
Next example now up! this time psytrance. A focus on shaping low-end and bass enhancement. Yet again this means I am now available for x1 more track if you haven’t yet sent one.
I know it’s all subjective, but… trying to be objective it’s somewhere between the two, closer to the first. Mainly mud because of my shitty signal chain/monitoring atm (which I’m aiming to fix soon.)
When’s the deadline? Like I say I’m available to take on a master, If I can make it a whole lot better great, if I can only make it marginally better or can’t make any improvement then I just won’t use it for the portfolio and will see it as just some practice so no loss either way
I’m still juggling loops and bits but the sound design is p much done for now. Just need to work out a likkle arrangement and I’ll fire the turd over to you lol.
The ‘no bus processing’ rule might fuck me up doe. It’s part of the sound design at this point, but I’ll see what I can untangle.
Honestly it’s mostly the usual lower mid mud stuff you’d be dealing with…
I think it would be good to get two copies of the track if people are relying on bus processing, one with and one without. As Ronzlo is talking about, when those eq’s or compressors get put onto the 2bus at an early stage, they have built their mix around those interactions. Removing them at the end can make a mix completely fall apart. The only hard and fast rule should be no limiters or clipping. At the worst, if their processing is doing more harm than good, you at least have a starting point to know where they were going with the mix, and can use the unaffected version to “get there”, just doing it with better processing. If the person knew what they were doing, I usually go from the mix down with their 2bus processing, because it will be closer to their intentions. Just my 2 cents after doing this for a while.
Yes I agree. Like you said even if it is doing more harm than good at least you can hear what the artist is intending for the final sound which gives you a “head start”
Ok I’ve decided to drop my price. I’ll be transparent about it. It’s through lack of work. This is no bad thing though, the people I’ve worked with are extremely happy with the service I’ve provided for them but I’m simply not getting anything through from any new guys. So this means that the quality is there (they’ve even told me that I should be charging way more).
I simply want to work, I love working with audio and if it means working for a little less (maybe being taken less seriously) but actually getting the work then I’ll keep dropping the price until something clicks
For the record the free mastering still applies to anyone who hasn’t had a chance to send in a track yet for portfolio building so make sure to get on that. As usual any questions feel free to PM
There is now a dedicated page for my mastering service. This should work better than just messaging through my alias accounts so should be a bit simpler.
Instead of before asking for likes on different pages I’ve now scrapped that. It’s just a like and share of the mastering page, also the price has dropped to £15 with discounts on more than that. I will post more examples soon.
