Musicians would have to have lived in a cave to not have seen the automated mastering bandwagon of recent years. Known as automated mastering. It is almost impossible to investigate mastering services and not come across these type of mastering services.

As a sound engineer I have 23 years of professional audio engineering experience and it is at your disposal for a great price. High end human mastering which has served the music industry well for its entire history thus far, is not expensive. Historically, mastering music has been an expensive process but in 2023 this is not the case. For 13 years I have been providing my clients with mix appraisal and feedback when requested.

Providing advice, mix appraisal if required and high quality end results. This has maximized many clients music potential before it is distributed online and via CD/vinyl. Whether your music is destined for music streaming services like Youtube, iTunes or Spotify or download services. Or such as Beatport, Bandcamp and Junodownload, a good mastering job can make a big difference to your musical productions.

Employing an industry professional with great experience is not expensive.

The evidence :

1 Track £30.00
4 Track E.P £112.00
10 – 12 Track album £230.00

Imagine what 13 years of experience as a professional studio engineer (head engineer) in one of the biggest audio production company’s in London can add to your tracks. (exposed to all disciplines of sound engineering, recording, direct to stereo and multi-track, mixing of well known bands. Also adept at producing complex electronic music DAW projects. In addition to the balance of BBC and commercial radio programming, trained in audio engineering school and in addition a former BBC studio manager.

Then imagine what 13 years of online mastering studio experience can achieve with PMC IB1S large scale, high resolution monitoring in a very accurate room. You and I will build a musical relationship from which you can grow and learn. Here are some statements and then questions to ask if you are thinking about automated mastering.

Bullet point factual statements :

I can apply 23 years professional music industry experience to your music.

13 years of solely mastering music for a living. Thus far I have had no need to mix as my success at mastering has meant I have not needed to. In addition mastering is best performed by a specialist who did not mix the material.

The best rates in the industry for high end mastering with REAL industry experience.

PMC IB1S, 3 way, full range, flat to 25Hz monitoring – Hypex audiophile amplification, presenting your music with precision, depth and definition.

Experience with every genre (and sub genre) of music.

High end analogue equipment rack.

Up to date, ear selected software suite based on years of listening experience.

Mix feedback (if requested) and revisions included in prices.

Questions to ask yourself about automated mastering

Can it provide free mix appraisal/feedback and advice (if requested)?

Can it detect clicks, clipping, bad edits, abrupt endings, abrupt starts, sibilance, fade noise in/out at the intro and outro successfully ?

Is automated DSP mastering in 2023 a good price? It seems it is becoming expensive for an algo job.

Can it notify you of better file formats to use ?

Can it offer advice on mono incompatibility between L and R channels and stop your music from having instruments vanish in mono ?

Can it provide high end analogue processing during mastering ?

Is streaming metering just measuring and analyzing for someting for you to look at or humans to hear ?

Can it discern the best analogue mastering equipment to insert into its chain ?

Can it understand the intended track sequence and flow of of an album or E.P and ensure the volumes of the tracks relate to their tempo and instrumental density and intensity, style ?

Further considerations

Does automated mastering know your track is a rock track, reggae track, jazz music, euphoric trance music, psy trance music, ambient, synth music, drum and bass music, soul music, trap, house, garage, UK garage, folk music, funk music, acoustic songs, prog rock music, psychedelic rock music, heavy metal, soft rock, alt country, pop music, country music or dubstep and the emotions and possible dance invoking energy this music needs to convey to its audiences ?

Does it “calculate” the ideal tonal response for these genres and their sub genres ?

Does the result sound exceptional and is at the right volume on streaming services ?

I can make a very loud perceived volume master with greatest transparency if that is what you as a client need, does automated mastering have a choice of 6 state of the art limiters (which all react differently to the source music) and other perceived volume making processes and skills ?

The list goes on

Does automated Mastering have circa 40 high quality plug ins from the top software developers (Such as DMG Audio, Fabfilter, Voxengo, P.A. Oeksound etc.), each of which excel at a specific tasks thus producing an end result greater than the sum of parts ?

Can it detect distortion (either in the mix to begin with or as a result of its processing end result) as well as I can ?

Can it feel the emotional content of your music ?

Are you making music for humans to listen to or robots ?

Can it provide a flexible, targetted stem mastering option ?

Does it understand musicality, production, human intent and spirit and how to gently enhance and push the core musicality and message in your music whilst subtly reducing distractions ?

Can it build a trusted working relationship with you and your musical goals?

Is it actually low cost, given you have one chance to impress and release your music ?

Conclusion

My high end mastering service is at a great price, ( I believe it to be the lowest price serious proposition out there) so all musicians, producers, mix engineers, record labels can afford real human crafted mastering. They have a chance to build a relationship with a musical and production ally. There is no need to compromise the many hours and money they have invested in their musical pursuits. Highly experienced, affordable human mastering is right here at your service. Spread the word !

24 bit unlimited / non clipped files can be sent with https://wetransfer.com/

Please get in contact with myself Barry Gardner : safeandsound123 at googlemail.com ( at being @ with no gaps)