How much is industry standard to master 1 song?

S

Sk.....1

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Is a $100.00 to much to master 1 song in a professional studio.
 
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Mastering charges vary by the studio. Usually, dedicated studios will charge you more than say, someone like me, because they have a lot more overhead to account for. Nowadays, the mastering software available is pretty damn good and if you know what you're doing, you can make some really good masters, but it's all about the engineer you go to, and how fair they are with how much they charge.

I usually charge 30.00 per track, but I ask for a week to do it and I don't allow cats to come in and sit in, since I spread my work out since I'm always working on more than one project. Now, if I had a studio that I paid rent on, and a light, phone and other bills to pay, I would definitely have people sit in and charge a lot more.
 
Depends

Is a $100.00 to much to master 1 song in a professional studio.
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It is a bit high, BUT, if they

1) give you 2 updates,
2) have an engineer that has a good track record mastering, your style of music
3) can play you some stuff they've done, in your genre
4) let you sit in and give feedback during the whole process.
5) have good mastering equipment, mainly the converters.
6) are a mastering studio vs. a studio that does mastering

Then, it could vary well be an alright deal.
 
That's a very good point. Always ask for your conditions.

btw: Murk, welcome to FP !! :cheers:
 
Here is what Don Tyler's assistant sent me ....he has mastered music for Tupac, Snoop and a quite a few rock songs.

I thought I’d touch base & give you a little more info on mastering with Don Tyler. Generally, on a 15 song album it would take approx. 7.5 hours to do the eqing and additional time to run your CD references and your CD master, depending on how many you order. Normal mastering rate is $350 per hour, CD refs are $50 each and CD masters are $500 each.

P.S

Most companies don't want you to sit in on the process and are likely to charge more if you do.

Hope this puts it into prespective for you.

Kenetix (Kentic) Production !!!

in conjunction with

Prolificc Entertainment LLC !!!
 
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I thought I’d touch base & give you a little more info on mastering with Don Tyler. Generally, on a 15 song album it would take approx. 7.5 hours to do the eqing and additional time to run your CD references and your CD master, depending on how many you order. Normal mastering rate is $350 per hour, CD refs are $50 each and CD masters are $500 each.
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7.5 hours to complete a 15 song CD, How long for a 12 song ?
 
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He said that it takes him approx. 30 minutes to do one song so multiply 12 times .5 and you get 6 hrs. Then multiply 6hrs by $350, giving you a total of $2100.00 with out tax and cd reference. :victory:










Kenetix (Kentic) Production !!!

in conjunction with

Prolificc Entertainment LLC !!!
 
I am going to say this, send him your best work because if it's recorded like garbage he can only give you back garbage ( no offense).
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fa'sho, i hear you... thanks champ
 
BEFORE YOU MASTER...READ THIS!!!!

It is going to be cheaper to get an album mastered than a single song (per song anyway). But if you insist on mastering one song at a time by an engineer with credentials, be expecting to pay about 350 per song. That is cheap by the way. You have to understand that these guys have a hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment in their room. I mean their monitors cost 20,000. Not to mention that they have several years of experience. I know of an excellent guy in Atlana named Glenn Schick www.gsmastering.com (770) 457-5243. He does the majority of the big named people here in Atlanta. I like his work because he treats each song with subtleness. You can expect a really natural sound back from him. It will be loud and properly EQ'ed, but it won't be squashed to death. PLEASE, PLEASE, be wary of uys who chrage so little to master. This is the last step in the chain before radio or CD. You have to take it serious. Anybody can buy a $500 mastering program and read the manual and get a decent sound. If you are going to go that route than you might as well but the program yourself and figure it out.
onestly man if you need more convincing write me at brianjennigs75@yahoo.com
 
It sounds to me like you are trying to discredit Don. If you follow the link I provided I think you will see that the equipment he has is mostly custom made and no programs. All his work is done by ear, the way it's suppose to be done.
 
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lol i remember I saw a site where this guy was charging 5 dollars or so for each track mastered. Then he provided examples and basically the only thing he did was boost the high end. I'll try to the find the link.

When it comes to mastering it's definitely true that you get what you pay for.

Peace
 
The sad thing is not how much or how little people charge for mastering nowadays, it's how dumb some artists can be when it comes to mastering their music! Right now, the general belief is that people who charge little to master your music aren't good at all, and guess who wants you to believe that?

Let's face it, Digital Mastering software has gotten to be pretty good, and the prices are only destined to come down. Sorry for the guys who have thousands of dollars worth of gear, and have the overheard of a studio. True, if you're recording on 2" tape you need someone with the right kind of gear to make the transfer as best as possible, but you guys out there recording on your computers at home and other less-expensive gear, you guys better wise up!!!

It's understandable that mastering engineers with a good track record should charge more than other guys doing the same, if not better work. When you charge 350.00 per hour to master a song, you better have some credentials, and the artist hiring this type of engineer should understand that 70% of that fee is just on the name.

If you're an unknown artist, and you're putting out your own record with the hopes of selling a few copies "out of the trunk", then paying more than 50.00 per song (for Digital Mastering) is your waste of money!

There's an age-long myth about mastering that only guys with thousands of dollars' worth of gear can get the best sound out of your music, this is not always the case!

If it's really important to you to have a popular guy do your mastering, then by all means, spend the money, but don't sit there and tell people that going that route is the only way. If the person mastering knows the type of music, and can offer you a free test master for you to check out, you'd be a fool not to give it a shot.

This might sound like an advertisement since I master tracks for people (for the last couple of years, the same low rates, and I've never had a dissatisfied client so far), but if you're "on a budget" and are reading this and are confused, let me ask you to do this for yourself: DON'T come to me, go to someone else that offers you a free test master and have low rates! Specially if your music was recorded in 24-bit or less, and you're independent.

A lot of people in the music biz are in this to screw you for your money, and that includes engineers. GET EDUCATED (or pay more than you have to!)
 
The sad thing is not how much or how little people charge for mastering nowadays, it's how dumb some artists can be when it comes to mastering their music! Right now, the general belief is that people who charge little to master your music aren't good at all, and guess who wants you to believe that?
Click to expand...

Let's face it, Digital Mastering software has gotten to be pretty good, and the prices are only destined to come down. Sorry for the guys who have thousands of dollars worth of gear, and have the overheard of a studio. True, if you're recording on 2" tape you need someone with the right kind of gear to make the transfer as best as possible, but you guys out there recording on your computers at home and other less-expensive gear, you guys better wise up!!!
Click to expand...
It's understandable that mastering engineers with a good track record should charge more than other guys doing the same, if not better work. When you charge 350.00 per hour to master a song, you better have some credentials, and the artist hiring this type of engineer should understand that 70% of that fee is just on the name.
Click to expand...

If you're an unknown artist, and you're putting out your own record with the hopes of selling a few copies "out of the trunk", then paying more than 50.00 per song (for Digital Mastering) is your waste of money!
Click to expand...

There's an age-long myth about mastering that only guys with thousands of dollars' worth of gear can get the best sound out of your music, this is not always the case!
Click to expand...

If it's really important to you to have a popular guy do your mastering, then by all means, spend the money, but don't sit there and tell people that going that route is the only way. If the person mastering knows the type of music, and can offer you a free test master for you to check out, you'd be a fool not to give it a shot.
Click to expand...

This might sound like an advertisement since I master tracks for people (for the last couple of years, the same low rates, and I've never had a dissatisfied client so far), but if you're "on a budget" and are reading this and are confused, let me ask you to do this for yourself: DON'T come to me, go to someone else that offers you a free test master and have low rates! Specially if your music was recorded in 24-bit or less, and you're independent.
Click to expand...
A lot of people in the music biz are in this to screw you for your money, and that includes engineers. GET EDUCATED (or pay more than you have to!)
Click to expand...





With all that said, how much do you charge, I'm a broke rapper on a budget...
 
I PM'd you, but in case you don't see it, check out my site (my rates, some .MP3s of before and after stuff I've done as well as some free drum kits) at: www.redsecta.com

I work with Hip Hop EXCLUSIVELY, I've been mixing my own projects and for other peoples' projects since '92, and trust, THERE'S NO NEED TO SPEND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!!!
(well, maybe if I had already produced a few hits and had more work than I could handle, I might jack up my rates, but damn, not a whole lot!)
 
Sounds good, I checked your website briefly, looks good, I'll holla @ ya later...


2FINGERS
SK1
 
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