Mastering is both art and science. It is considered the last creative step in the production of a commercial sound recording. Mastering is performed by engineers who understand the strengths and limitations of the medium where the recording will end up on (Vinyl,CD, MFIT etc) and know how to optimise the recording in order to create a functioning, objectively good sounding and competitive result.

Mastering engineers achieve this by modifying the frequency spectrum, altering the dynamics and/or stereo field.

Furthermore mastering engineers account for the possible differences between songs on an Album in order to make the listening experience more coherent. One could also compare the mastering process to that of spell checking. Sometimes the author has more focus on language than technicalities and it is notoriously difficult to spell check your own work. Given that mastering studios have second to non monitoring/acoustics, the mastering process is intended for finding and correcting these last inconsistencies.

All songs should preferably be delivered as .wav or .aiff extensions, in 24 bit and at the same sample rate as was used during mixing. We support sample rates between 44.1kHz and 192kHz.

All tracks delivered should also not exceed 0dBfs. This is usually indicated by a red lights above your sequencer’s level meters. Also, compression and limiting should not be used over the master output. You can however send your reference track with compression and limiting to give us an idea of where you are going with the effects.

You can either bring your tracks with you when you attend the session, post them by mail (minimum 5 days in advance) or send a download link to joel@sixbitdeep.com by inserting a Wetransfer or Dropbox link into our pre-existing email thread (no auto generated emails from Dropbox or Wetransfer will work here unfortunately)

Any level between -8dBFS and -2dBFS is fine. What is important is that there is NO CLIPPING anywhere!

We do accept analog formats like 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch tape but make sure to get in touch beforehand so that we can set things up.

Our rule is that reference tracks are fine as long as they have been used as reference during the mixing and/or production process. Mastering is about refining and gently shaping the sound into the right direction never about radical stylistic changes. Also please point out in detail what it is you like about your reference track. Is it the tonal balance? Or perhaps just the loudness?

Please don’t send the music as a file but just include the title, artist and version in an email. We will buy the track ourselves to ensure maximum quality.

Unless otherwise agreed Joel Krozer will be working on your masters start to finish.

Loudness is a balancing act and high levels are always a compromise with dynamics and distortion.

Before deciding whether you want your track to be loud it is worth go through a few notable pitfalls of hyper-compressed music:

1. There’s no correlation between sales and how loud your record is.

2.Hyper-compressed material will actually sound weaker over the radio as the broadcast compressors will over process the signal.

3. Djs in clubs adjust the gain manually and more dynamic tracks are known for going off better than very compressed ones on big PA speakers.

4. Loud tracks seem impressive at first but quickly become fatiguing. Listening to an entire album of hyper-compressed music is often found to be unpleasant.

Now if you still want your track to be the loudest around, we will help you grant that wish. Do keep in mind though that each mix has a so called loudness potential. Once the loudness potential has been reached, the mix will need to be modified in order for the music to appear even louder.

Stem mastering is a type of finalisation of a production that does not work off a single stereo file but instead a number of groups exported on separate tracks. These are summed together in the mastering session and allows for more control and more precise coloration of the total. Stem masters are charged at a different price so please get in touch with us regarding pricing options. They usually consist of 4 to 12 (maximum 14) channels e.g. kick, snare, percussion, bass, synths, gtrs, lead vocals, backing vocals. 

Whilst the sum of stem masters need to add up to be identical to your reference master, stem mixing allows for more creative changes. Lead vocals are therefore typically sent with and without fx as well as other important parts of the mix. This allows us to go deeper with our processing. A stem mix has a limit of 24 supplied stems. Anything from there onwards is considered a mix.

ISRC are identification codes for your music. They will become useful to your national royalty association for keeping track of where and how often your music has been played.

Get your code by clicking here.

Once you have acquired your code you can easily modify it yourself for future releases. The code consists of 12 characters, “OO-XXX-YY-NNN-TT” where “OO” stands for the country of origin of the submitter , “XXX” the personalized code you received, “YY” the year of registration, “NNN” the release number and “TT” the track number.

ISRC codes should preferably be supplied prior to the mastering session.

If you attend the session, you’ll receive your master disk or files immediately after your session.

If the entire process is handled online you will receive your files on the day that has been specified to you in you first email correspondence with us.

The final master will be delivered either as a Master CD (with optional reference disk) a DDP file or individual .wav files. We also specialise in vinyl masters i.e. masters that can be cut directly to vinyl. These will also be sent as .wav files, either as individual or per side consolidates, depending on the manufacturers preference.

Think of the DDP file as the master disk on your computer. It contains all of your tracks in the correct order including all crossfades, ISRC codes, PQ codes etc

Masters have one revision per song included in the price. Further revision are charged by the hour. Changes to the mix cost 50% of the mastering price per track.

Please provide us with your invoice details including name, company name, address, email and phone number and we will send you an invoice at the end of the process. We prefer bank transfer. For clients from abroad we highly recommend Transferwise which is much cheaper than bank transfer and very fast to set up and send.

Glitches are rear but no machine in the world is perfect and we are also only humans after all. It is therefore very important that you thoroughly listen to all your masters before sending them off to the pressing plant/itunes/etc. We assume no responsibility for masters that were sent off to manufacturing without your final approval and your not compensated for any damages caused by this.

We are however very solution oriented people who will do everything in our power (obviously free of charge and immediately) to correct any errors or glitches that could have appeared during mastering. Luckily this rarely ever happens.

Mixing is the the process of balancing, spatial placement and processing of timbre, phase and dynamics of a recording. It is the part of the record production process that occurs after the recording and before the mastering of a record. Mixing can be anything from minor tonal changes of the recording to a complete sound overhaul, depending on the desire of the artist and what the music itself demands. The final result of a mix is always dependent on the quality of the arrangement, recording and sound design done prior to it. In simple terms, a good mix makes the grass greener, the valleys deeper and the mountain tops higher. It also takes into consideration different listening environments and optimises its sonics for the consumer.

Yes and no. We can adopt certain characteristics from other tracks but it should never be an ambition to sound like another track for two reasons. 1: it is creatively uninteresting. 2: It is not possible for the most part as other tracks sound the way they do not just due to the mix but also the composition, arrangement and most importantly production and sound choice. 

What we can however do (on some occasions) is adopt a characteristic off another song such as a thick sub bass, or a vocal reverb effect. Therefore you must specify precisely what it is you think we should reference.

We reserve two to three hours of free iterations for a mix and one hour to a stem master/mix.

Yes. Although not in the stem mastering or mastering price.

No. These are charged separate. Please write us for an offer from the beginning for the best price.

We have a detailed form that we can send you for this specific purpose. Please get in touch! 

We really need you to follow the form unfortunately. This saves us a lot of time and will improve your mix radically as it will allow us to focus on the music, not on the practicalities around it.

All mixes are done by Joel Krozer, who works out of C4 Studio 2 for all mixes and masters. Our Sequencer of choice is Pro Tools HD and Joel uses a combination of hardware and software to achieve the desired sound. We have access to an almost overwhelming amount of plugins and make sure we always work at the forefront of technology. Having said that there are many processes that are still miles ahead in the analog realm. We make sure to chose the best workflow for each individually.

All mixing is unattended here. You are however welcome to join for revisions. 

(Please note that the following is a simplified description of the process)

 The vinyl mastering and manufacturing process can be looked at as a 4 step process.

 

1. The creation of a vinyl premaster file – sometimes identical to digital master, sometimes different depending on program material)

2. The cutting process – This is ideally done at a cutting house and not at a manufacturing facility (pressing plant). Cutting engineers take our files and cut them onto a lacquer disk that is then sent off for pressing at the pressing plant.

3. The pressing plant – They create test presses that simulate how the final product will sound and ship it to your address. 

4. Upon approval of your test press, the pressing plant replicate your record the specified amount of times and ship the result inside the sleeves that you picked out.

We are able to handle steps 1 and 2 (see above info) for you entirely. This will yield the best result as we only work with the best cutting engineers around and are able to get better availability and prices through them. The price of handling all this depends on the size of the project. Get in touch for a quote.

The loudness of a record is not determined by how much limiting and compression we apply, unlike digital masters. A loud cut is done by the cutting engineer and a good one can always  work with a good sounding master. The cutting engineer does however have limitations and they are the biggest determining factor when it comes to loudness:

– Playing time 12″ 33 1/3rd RPM is ideal at 12-16 minutes length and 12″ 45 RPM is ideal at 6-9 minutes length (depending on the amount of low end energy). Longer playing times are possible but will decrease loudness significantly. Cutting around 6 minutes per side at 45 RPM will yield the loudest possible master!

– high end information in a mix. Mixes with a lot of high end will need to be reduced in volume in order to be cut without distortion, alternatively high end can be reduced for a cut without distortion at the expense of fidelity and transients

– mixes with excessive transients will need to be reduced in volume or compressed more in order to avoid saturation in the cutting stage

This is a common issue on old turntable pickups. Make sure to listen on several systems that have a good clean modern stylus!

If the problem persists, you need to contact the cutting engineer and explain this problem. They should provide you with a new cut that does not distort. Be detailed in your descriptions!

This problem could also be your playback system. Listen on several systems and compare to other records. Good cutting engineers use high end Japanese lacquers that have a low noise floor. Some crackles  can however not be avoided. If they indeed are excessive it could be a fault with the pressing plant also. The only way to find out is to communicate with both and ask to have a listen to the test cuts (not test press)

Oh yes you do. The process is of manufacturing vinyl is sensitive and the money you spend on test presses will pay off in the long run!

Cutting engineers and pressing plants have a responsibility to deliver a quality product. So yes if they commit grave errors and do not try to rectify them it is our opinion that you should have your money back from them. Things you are unhappy with that are a matter of taste or a limitation to the medium should not be reimbursed by them.

The way we work is on the basis of approval. If you are happy with the way our masters sound and the cutting engineer commences working on it without protest we consider the files approved and therefore do not assume any responsibility. We do however take pride in our work and can therefore advise you on how to proceed if your record is sub-par.

This is something you should take up with the pressing plant. We are not able to help with this process as it is an error in step 3 of the vinyl manufacturing process (see above info).

In our experience no! Cutting is a very different process to pressing and requires specific skills and not least rare and expensive tools that hardly any pressing plant owns. Find a good cutting house or let us help you.