Would like to talk about experience with online mastering houses.

[Doug1978]

The mix is what it is. There isn't any best possible mix of a tune. There's many different flavours of the same track. The artistic visions are a 360° panorama.

But the mix I receive may feature major technical flaws which are unacceptable for a perfect mastering. The following list is ordered by severity:
- Clipping > no way
- Limiting
- Over compressing
- Extreme EQing

Many thanks Laurent, it's handy to know.

Cheers

[maxcor]

Hi,

Most common flaws in mixes I receive for mastering:
-Limiting
-Over compressing
-Too much bass
-Muddiness (lower mids cluttered)

Best regards!

[Laurend]

Because the online algorithm has been updated on June 28, I've also updated the demo playlist. It features both source track / RMS matched mastering / full size mastering for every track.

https://soundcloud.com/laurent-sevestre ... one-minute

Enjoy

[Laurend]

Bump bump bump

[Hermetech Mastering]

Thanks for the invitation, TheoM! I'm Gregg, from Hermetech Mastering in Milan, Italy (previously in Yokohama, Japan)

I've been offering an online professional mastering service since the end of 2009, with about nine previous years experience working on my own and friend's music, before I started taking any money.

I started working primarily with electronic/IDM musicians (techno, psy trance etc.), but these days work on many different styles (industrial, folk, rock, indie, metal, hip hop, drone etc.) and am very happy to work on different genres, it keeps thing fresh for me! I've also done dialogue work, restoration work, and film soundtracks.

I don't have any kind of "tier" mastering service, as everything that comes through here gets the full treatment. I also have a standard rate, so no hidden costs. Have my own domain and FTP server etc. Always happy to give mix feedback if wanted.

All the details are on my web site below, but most of the heavy work is done in an analogue loop sandwiched between two Crookwood converters.

My clients include Danny Hyde (Seal, PWEI, Coil, NIN), Gio Makyo (Dakini Records) etc.

I'd be very happy to answer any questions!

Best wishes,

Gregg Janman, Hermetech Mastering, Milan

http://hermetechmastering.com/

[Laurend]

Ahh Laurent I see! I blame myself for mis reading your initial post.. You are not doing old school mastering but rather a new proprietary process. Ok when my new track is done i am going to give this a try, for a 5 minute 44.1 24 bit song the price is absolutely worth giving it a try and taking it from there for future work if i like it. I absolutely am intrigued and have read all the infos on your website!

I will love to have the same track mastered at a traditional studio and then compare. This will be great!

Of course anyone is welcome to discuss Laurent's unique approach in this topic as well as traditional mastering houses..

Remember if you have had an excellent experience with someone please let us know.. There are so many choices online and i am hoping you guys can really help sort through who is worth our time and who isn't!

Is your project still in the pipe ?

[Jrace]

Adding to the list of common flaws I receive from mixes when mastering:-

1. Resonances (no mix is going to be flat but some freq's poke out to the point that they're either eating up too much headroom or are just painful to listen to)

2. Sub imbalance. I deal with a lot of bass heavy music and this area gets attention most of the time. It's either too much sub (which is eating up too much headroom) or not enough has been mixed in (which is harder to deal with especially if they have a sub heavy kick )

3. General tonality. These are the one's I like, everything has it's place but the overall tonality is off. This one feels less like trying to fix a mix and more like just enhancing

4. Dynamics, too much / too little. Would rather have too much but if too little is there then some things can be done to try to bring some life back but it's an uphill struggle.

Funnily enough I actually wrote a post about this recently that's worth checking out:-

http://www.what-is-mastering.net/what-m ... g-can-fix/

[NickMo]

Interesting to see the topic attracted two adverts lol. Nick, or Barry? Hi and welcome

Hi, it is Nick. I'm not Barry! He just did a good job for me and seemed like a nice guy, so I said I'd put in a good word for him on the interweb. Looks like it's backfired somewhat if my comments look like I'm a shill. I guess that's the nature of the internet. So much dishonesty and bullshit that no one can trust what anyone says.

As it happens, I'm now mastering my own stuff. Although that is due to financial issues rather than because I can do it better. It's coming out sounding pretty good to my ears. But it is a bit disconcerting to think that because I don't have the proper speakers or listening environment there might be some horrendous frequency that is going to mess it up on some sound systems, and I've got no way of telling.