There are so many opinions here, many of them very good. One I don't agree with is the theory that mastering should be a subtle enhancement of the mix. Not always.... Mastering should be making the mix you are given sound the best it can. Not hope for a great mix that you have to do nothing too.
What if the client sucks at mixing? I give my clients mixing tips, but what if they can't access the mix? What if a client gives you a mix with the bass +10db to loud, and it need a +15db overall volume boost, and they can't change the mix? Well, your mastering won't be subtle....
Semantically, I wouldn't agree with that theory either. Ideally, mastering a mix would be a subtle enhancement or correction. In fact, in a perfect world, the mix would be ready to go and to the standard of whatever medium and mastering would simply be printing the master copy. But in reality, every situation will be different. One mix may require nothing but a simple turn of the knob, and the next may require boosts, cuts, distortion, compression, 2-buss reverb (don't even get me started there), transient enhancement.... and so on and so forth.
---------- Post added at 12:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 AM ----------
And if you can hear the Quality Differences between two Different TRS Cables like Greg Calbi then. and kids please you do not master in your room send that crap to a Master Engineer. AND!, like the man said ask them about the codes PQsubcode and make sure you have your code ready. If your are in a professional level. and your Credit card redy >: ) BUAHAHAHAH that's the moment when ur wife stab you.
Having had the pleasure of working with Greg on a few records I can say his ears are a little supernatural. He's not my go-to sterling guy, I like Athens. But Calbi's analytical hearing is pretty much second to none. All that said, I don't totally buy the trs cable thing. And I'm not so sure Greg does either.
---------- Post added at 12:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:46 AM ----------
How much is a normal fee to pay for a mixing and mastering?
Completely depends on the engineers, and the studios. Top mastering engineers are generally charging in or around the name of $200/song. Some more, some less. A lot of the really good B-list cats are in the vein of $100. And there's some incredible guys who are best-kept-secrets mastering at $50/song-ish.
Mixing... yikes. The top dawgs are calling in 2-5 grand a song. Your B-listers are in the range of a thousand to two thousand. Then there's some really really great mix engineers who pull somewhere in the $500 zone off of the strength of their reels, rather than credits. There's a small couple of best-kept-secret engineers who are charging in the $200 range, though they're hard to find.
Then there's studio fees. It's one thing to have an engineer work at home, it's another to have them work at a studio.