Would like to talk about experience with online mastering houses.

[bmanic]

Does anyone have experience with this?

http://www.abbeyroadonlinemastering.com/

Do they provide the high quality that the well known name "Abbey Road" implies, or is the online mastering made by the trainees?

I'm absolutely sure that they wouldn't let "trainees" work under the Abbey Road name. It's most certainly a professional.

Now it's a completely different question weather you like the results or not. Just give enough information of what you want them to achieve and you'll be fine.

If you can't specify precisely what you want then at least give them some references to tracks by other bands/groups that you like the sound of.

If you're mainly after a technically good master (one that plays evenly on most equipment) then I'm 100% certain Abbey Road can deliver but as soon as it comes down to taste things (glue vs punch, top heavy or top light, etc.), you just have to experiment with different people. If you have the budget, start by sending one of your tracks to a few different mastering places and choose the one you like the best.

Cheers!
bManic

[Laurend]

Then again, perhaps it's possible to fine tune these automatic mastering systems for different types of clients/preferences and build a vast library of personality type?

For instance in the first song, the delicate ballad with the girl singing, your version almost completely obliterates the balance between each of the instruments and the vocalist. It just falls completely apart.. instead of becoming a harmony of many sound sources, each sound is now screaming "listen to me!!!!!" almost at an equal level.

My service proposes a different approach. While usual mastering deals with a client's subjective demand, MaximaSound deals with the final listener hearing system by optimizing perception.

This option often serves the artistic purpose. Sometime other options may provide a better result. The preview generated for each uploaded file allows an informed choice.

[camsr]

Laurend, your mastering service sounds interesting, and I like the results. But how does it fix mixes with really bad, and I mean totally off balance, EQ issues like too much bass?

[Laurend]

Laurend, your mastering service sounds interesting, and I like the results. But how does it fix mixes with really bad, and I mean totally off balance, EQ issues like too much bass?

My process usually improves the mix balance. But it's not a magic wand. A wrecked mix can't be saved.
Most of my clients submit different mix versions and choose the best sounding results.

[dayjob]

very good experiences with the following

http://panicstudios.com/

http://www.audibleoddities.com/

http://www.complete-usa.com/ (also pressed some vinyl w/him. great to work with and the pressings are fantastic and sound great)

[Laurend]

very good experiences with the following

http://panicstudios.com/

http://www.audibleoddities.com/

http://www.complete-usa.com/ (also pressed some vinyl w/him. great to work with and the pressings are fantastic and sound great)

Why changing if you're satisfied?

[GeckoYamori]

Oh and one more thing that irritates me a lot is how some people still cling to the notion of how difficult and precious mastering is. How it is somehow a "black art" and almost magic. That's utter bull shit.

This probably grew out of a sense of self-preservation as the industry moved from vinyl to CD. It was either bullshitting or going out of business. Since then it has just snowballed along with the mythological power of analog equipment.

[Laurend]

Oh and one more thing that irritates me a lot is how some people still cling to the notion of how difficult and precious mastering is. How it is somehow a "black art" and almost magic. That's utter bull shit.

This probably grew out of a sense of self-preservation as the industry moved from vinyl to CD. It was either bullshitting or going out of business. Since then it has just snowballed along with the mythological power of analog equipment.

When you have spent thousands bucks in a 80 years old technology, you join the main steam marketing of the manufacturers to praise the mojo of vintage equipments. Even plug-ins developers join the herd...

[bmanic]

Then again, perhaps it's possible to fine tune these automatic mastering systems for different types of clients/preferences and build a vast library of personality type?

For instance in the first song, the delicate ballad with the girl singing, your version almost completely obliterates the balance between each of the instruments and the vocalist. It just falls completely apart.. instead of becoming a harmony of many sound sources, each sound is now screaming "listen to me!!!!!" almost at an equal level.

My service proposes a different approach. While usual mastering deals with a client's subjective demand, MaximaSound deals with the final listener hearing system by optimizing perception.

This option often serves the artistic purpose. Sometime other options may provide a better result. The preview generated for each uploaded file allows an informed choice.

This is actually quite interesting. Your algorithm (or algorithms? Several in parallel or series?) are obviously very sophisticated so would it be possible in the future to create a kind of "questionaire" thing to get a more targeted sound for clients? I mean, for instance you could perhaps have some options where the client selects "minimal limiting, no clipping" and perhaps "needs quite a bit of compression to get the song grooving" etc.

For compression groove you could measure the bmp of the song automatically, then check if it stays constant over the course of the track or varies.. then set the compressor release to a pleasant "groovy" value so that you get that slight surge in between the beats.

I am absolutely 100% certain that virtually all technical things will be dealt with completely automatically in the future but even the "human" parts will probably be very closely approximated in the not too distant future. So in essence it might be possible to program an algorithm to be so complex that it gets actual musical "taste" and thus performs the subjectively "correct" processing on any given material automatically.

Cheers!
bManic

[TristezaOrange]

I actually used Maximal Sound on three of my tracks last night and I'm impressed. I ended up purchasing the mastered versions of all of them. Now, could a live person have done a better job? I intend to find out by submitting the same tracks to other mastering houses and see what happens. Granted, it's not a standardized, double blind prospective study but I'm doing it for my own purposes.

[2infamouz]

I'm pretty skeptical about online only mastering. I'd prefer to meet with the engineer and get a feel for the way they work, as people can put anything online. Im Dr. Dre if you guys want me to make you a beat go ahead and send 5 grand...?

I guess if you have heard good things from their other clients that's one thing but I wouldn't pay for a service with no proof of the quality of their work or if they even actual master at all. I've heard of people just slapping izotope ozone on the master bus with a default/preset setting and getting paid as a "mastering engineer". As funny as it is, it's pretty messed up lol.

[bmanic]

That's why I'm always offering completely full money back guarantee. Actually, the client doesn't pay at all until he is completely satisfied with the work.

I'm going to continue this policy even once I go online. Sending the client the mastered tune, with a few tiny gaps, for approval. Once the song/album is approved and payment has been made the client gets the final product.

If somebody has a "pay me first, I'll master later" then I'd be suspicious too.. unless they are "big name" players in the business.

Cheers!
bManic

[dayjob]

very good experiences with the following

http://panicstudios.com/

http://www.audibleoddities.com/

http://www.complete-usa.com/ (also pressed some vinyl w/him. great to work with and the pressings are fantastic and sound great)

Why changing if you're satisfied?

complete did vinyl for us and is one stop shop for that. so, i felt better having one person do it all rather than dealing with one person for mastering/premastering... etc.. felt it better served the music.

i used audible oddities 2 times i think and once because it was the artist's choice and once because panic studios was unavailable due to illness.

that being said.. they're all really good and i was 100% satisfied. they were all good about doing any revisions and listening to what i/we wanted things to sound like.

[Laurend]

Thanks for this clarification.
From this thread, it seems that clients are satisfied using online mastering services.

[Tricky-Loops]

Thanks for this clarification.
From this thread, it seems that clients are satisfied using online mastering services.

The ones who aren't satisfied are afraid of posting...