How To Order:
Ordering mastering and Mixing using our website is a simple process simply follow these steps
1 – Select your required items from the choice on either the order now or the home page (Multiple items can be selected by choosing a amount on the item page under the product description
2 – When you are ready to check out navigate to your cart and follow the check out instructions
3 – Once you have completed your order you will be redirected back to the site. Simply navigate to your orders section and you will be able to download the PDF information file that details how to prepare and send us your files
4 – Follow instructions in the PDF file to send us your tracks
If you have any problems at any stage of the process please do contact us via our contact page and we will be happy to help.
Getting tracks ready to send for mastering:
Track sent for mastering need to have the following done to them for them to be accepted for mastering:
1 – Your sequencers master output channel needs to be NOT clipping when you export your track – Any clipping might result in your files being declined when you submit them to us. You should ensure that there is AT LEAST -2db of headroom on your final mix
2 – ALL Effects (EQ, Compression etc etc) need to be turned OFF on your sequencers master output channel before bouncing – Any files with effects on the master channel might be declined when you submit them to us as this can severely effect the final mastering. All channel effects are fine and should be left as is
Once you have ensured your master output channel is not clipping and any master effects are off then simply bounce your track to a stereo WAV file. Your track should be submitted in the same audio resolution it was created at for example if you worked at 16bit then submit at 16 bit, 24 bit submit at 24 bit and so on – Mastered files are returned at 16 bit 44Hz.
Your bounced file/s should be named with artist, track name, cat number, label name. We prefer the following format:
Catalog number – Artist – Title – Label
For example:
36HTZ001A – DJ Vapour – Sting in the tail – 36 Hertz Recordings.Wav
If you do not have catalog numbers or label information for your tracks that is fine just send them named with the artist name and track title
Please feel free to include any notes as a read me file included in with your pre masters detailing any special instructions or required levels or preferred “styles” of “sound” that you are after with your final mastered file that could help is achieve the desired final product for you.
Please do not include notes as the “message” section on the file transfer nor send messages as a email – any notes must be submitted as a read me file or document with the files when sending as any other messages might not be seen before work is started on your files.
Details on how to send your track to us are included in the downloadable PDF file that you can download after you place an order.
Any problems or questions please do get in touch via our Contact Page and we will be happy to assist
Getting tracks ready to send for mixdown:
To mixdown your track we need you to send us stem files
Stem files are the individual channels that make up your finished track
This would be every element of your track bounced down individually as its own WAV file for for example you would have a separate WAV file for each drum track, percussion track, vocal track and so on to make up the complete track.
These Stems should be STEREO not mono files if possible
Say for example you have 15 individual channels that make up your tracks then you would have 15 individual Wav files to send us.
Please remove any master output eq or effects FROM THE MASTER OUTPUT CHANNEL – Limiting and compression included, What you send us should be a clean master output with no added tricks.
This does not include removing individual channel effects (ie if you have a eq on your drum break ) leave those as you want them but do not add any “mastering” into the master (Main output) signal chain.
So to clarify – No effects on master output channel in sequencer, Individual channel effects are fine (Please do get in touch via our Contact page if you are unsure)
Do not turn it up, Less is more and its much easier for us to do our work when your master track has not been boosted to within a inch of its life. Please ensure your master output has not been boosted as we can add a more natural loudness boost during our mastering process. Clipping should not be occurring at this stage so please ensure your master output channel is not clipping at all (-2db of headroom is optimum)
Try not to add any “Pre mastering” – Trust us it will not make any difference other than making our job harder if you add any kind of home mastering to your tracks. Leave it to us and we can guarantee a much cleaner and nicer result for you.
How to get your stems:
Open your track in your audio editor.
Put your left locator at the very beginning of your track.
Put the right locator at the very end of your track.
Ensure both locators stay in these positions when bouncing. – This is very important that all of your stems are the length of the full track even if for example a channel does not have any audio running for the first 32 bars as we need to drop all these stems into our audio editing software and so they all need to line up when we do this.
Solo each track and once you have it soloed export the loop (whole track) as a WAV file using the audio resolution that you were working in when you made the track (16 Bit, 24 bit etc etc) – NOTE some sequencers have a batch export function that can do each track as a separate stem in one export function so please check individual system settings for that option as it may save you some time.
Name each WAV as you export it – Drums 1 , Drums 2, etc etc. – Un named stems waste up to 30 minutes of time when setting up where as it is very easy for the producers to name before bouncing so please do try to name your stems for us.
PLEASE MAKE AN EFFORT TO NAME YOUR STEMS PROPERLY AS IT WASTES SO MUCH TIME WHEN PEOPLE SEND STEMS WITH NO FILE NAMES!
Once you have bounced all of your channels they are ready to send to us for mixing
Please feel free to include any notes as a read me file included in with your stem files detailing any special instructions or required levels or preferred “styles” of “sound” that you are after with your final mixdowns file that could help is achieve the desired final product for you.
Details on how to send your stems to us are included in the downloadable PDF file that you can download after you place an order.
If you have any problems at any stage of the process please do contact us via our contact page and we will be happy to help.
Sending tracks ready to send for vinyl mastering:
Please follow the same procedure for digital mixdowns as detailed above but please ensure to send us the specs that have been provided by your chosen pressing plant. All pressing plants have different specs for the direct to disc mastering process and you will need to confirm this with them before making your order with us. Most pressing plants will provide you with a PDF or Text file with the correct information which you can simply include in with your pre masters folder when sending to us.
Please note that vinyl mastering process varies greatly from the digital or analogue mastering process and you will not be able to provide requests for the desired sound as we have to adhere to the guidelines dedicated by the pressing plant you are using to press your vinyl.
Sending DJ Mixes for mastering:
To send us your DJ mix simply export your mix as a 44,100 16 bit .WAV file and send as per the instructions included in the ZIP file you can download after placing your order.
Please ensure to make sure there is adequate headroom in your recording software when recording your mix to ensure there is enough headroom to work with when mastering the DJ mix – We recommend a headroom level of -6db for DJ Mix mastering