Choosing the right mastering engineer for you band’s music can be one of the most important decisions in the production process. Being a struggling musician with a limited budget can make the decision increasingly difficult. This article will point out the pro’s and con’s of choosing an online mastering service to master your record instead of the traditional mastering studios and attended sessions.
Pro’s
Since this article is assuming you don’t have a major label record contract with a massive recording budget, there can be many advantages with choosing an online provider of audio mastering for someone in this position:
Affordability
Its a simple concept: lower overhead = lower rates. Don’t let the low price tag fool you, these online mastering studios have all the same gear and experience but are paying far less by not having a “retail” location open to the public. Those price premiums are paying for that fancy couch you’re sitting on and the convenient “lounge” with a vending machine, xbox, and big screen TV.
Turnaround
Since online mastering studios don’t have to deal with clients in person, it cuts down significantly on the turnaround time. The engineer has more time for mastering since less time is wasted on “client relations” and small-talk.
Easier Process
In this digital age we live in, mailing a physical tape or CD seems to be quickly becoming an archaic concept. With an online mastering studio, you simply upload your tracks and CD data and the mastering engineer has you music instantly. No waiting for CDs to arrive to start the project. Lastly, when the project is finished a DDP image is sent instead of a physical CD. Further speeding up the process.
Con’s
After reading the pro’s, you may be asking yourself “Well what con’s could there possibly be?”. Not many, but depending on the person it may be an important necessity that the online mastering studio simply cannot offer.
Instant Feedback
The biggest and most obvious drawback of going with an online mastering engineer is that you can’t sit behind him on a cozy couch while your music is being mastered and give feedback the moment it comes to you. No one knows your music better than yourself, and you may have specific requirements as to how it should sound. Many people like to hear the mastering process as its happening. If this is of high importance to you, than online mastering may not be right for you….just be ready to pay a huge price premium for that luxury. Now this isn’t to say that you can’t give feedback on an online master, it will just take an extra day for your feedback to be reviewed and changes applied.
Accurate Feedback
In addition, you most likely won’t be able to listen to the master in a well-treated and sonically perfect environment on a pair of $10,000+ speakers. You’ll probably be listening on headphones or studio monitors. This can make it more difficult to hear the improvements that were made to your mix.
Unqualified Mastering Engineers
Now this is a big one. Everyone and their grandmother has a website or blog these days. So what’s to stop literally ANYONE from making a website and claiming to be a professional mastering engineer with “years of experience” and “tons of high end analog gear”? Well…nothing really. So because of this added level of uncertainty, many online mastering studios will provide you with a free sample master of one of your songs to “prove their worth”. I highly recommend you take advantage of these offers. It’s certainly the best way of ensuring the online mastering studio you chose is being run by a qualified and experienced engineer, and not some two-bit internet phony.
Conclusion
OK so whats the verdict? Well for an artist or band on a tight or even moderate budget, the choice is quite clear. The online mastering service has all of the needed qualities of the traditional mastering house, without the massive price tag! If you can deal with waiting an extra day to hear your changes made, then the online mastering service is the obvious way to go.