Steve PMHMastering is the last stage of music production. It is a process that sees your release get sonically balanced in all playback systems.
For album or EP releases, WAV mastering gives consistent and clear sound in all tracks. The final audio can then easily be copied and distributed.
Times have changed, and many artists, singers, and songwriters are beginning to produce music independently, which is very costly. So, how can you have your music tracks mastered to a high-quality track at an affordable cost? Well, online mastering could be the ultimate solution.
Online mastering enables artists to get their music virtually mastered while at their home’s comfort. In this era of technology, you can now have quality sound mastering services from the most prominent recording studios at a click.
This piece looks at the Abbey Road online mastering services and why it could be your to-go mastering studio.
About Abbey Road Mastering Studio
Abbey Road Studio is one of the legendary recording studios in the world. This studio boasts of elite engineers and state of the art machinery which guarantees quality music production. It was started as a project studio in 1928 by the Gramophone Company.
In 1958 it was fast becoming famous for rock and roll music, and this saw the Beatles record three albums among other popular productions by artists. In 2012, the studio officially became the Universal Music Group’s property after taking over the EMI for a whooping £1.3 billion.
Apart from recording software and studio facilities, Abbey Road offers a wide range of services like mastering (online and physical), vocal tuning, mixing, and music production. The studio’s online mastering services give you the chance to choose your mastering engineer from the list of their approved mastering experts at a package of about £90.
Abbey Studios is now a famous studio that many have heard of, even those outside the music industry. Some of the most iconic music industry names, like Kanye West, Beatles, Aretha, and Lady Gaga, have produced their music here.
Online Mastering Services Description
Online track mastering at the Abbey Road Studio takes place in unique mastering rooms with classic equipment with the latest hardware and software technologies.
The equipment includes vinyl cutting lathes, original EMI (TG) mastering consoles, SSL mixing consoles, vintage compressors, benchmark converters, and outboard equipment such as Prism, Junger, Weiss, and a wide variety of CEDAR plug-ins.
Abbey online mastering studios allow artists to electronically submit their source files through their website, then select a mastering engineer to work on the files.
Online mastering is charged according to tracks, unlike physical mastering, which usually is per hour. This makes online mastering cheaper compared to attending a physical session. You can also easily calculate the mastering cost, even when on a fixed budget.
When mastering your track, communication between you and the engineer is vital.
Communication before, during, and after the whole process can be well achieved in a physical session. Online mastering can compromise this, and the best thing with Abbey is that you deal directly with the sound engineer so you can talk more often.
How Online Mastering Works at Abbey Road
The Abbey Road Studio website is admirably simple to use. You can browse the profiles of available engineers, select one of your preferences, and then click the ‘upload’ button. At this point, you will be prompted to answer the number of tracks you want to upload, and the system automatically generates the pricing quotes.
New clients are required to create a new account by filling a short form on the web. After quotations, clients can pay using a debit or a credit card. Once the system accepts your payment, you are ready to upload your tracks.
The engineer will then start working on them at their convenience, taking up to 5 working days. You can provide reference notes and tracks to specify the sound you want. The mastering process begins, and once completed, a PMCD, DDP Image, or WAV format is made available for download.
You can also choose to get Vinyl mastering, which comes with an audio CD reference as an option. The company guarantees a five-day turnaround, which can be quite long and inconveniencing at times.
Why Use Abbey Road Online Mastering Services
Abbey Road studio is known to be at the forefront of making sound for start-up artists and world-class musicians. They have a direct chat interface between the client and the mastering engineer. They personalize experiences as not one sound can work for everyone.
With the emergence of many online mastering services, choosing the right one for you can be challenging. Abbey Road has been in the industry for some time now and worked with huge artists like Rita Ora and Ed Sheeran, and hence you are assured of experienced mastering engineers.
Prices and Plans
The studio offers different mastering plans to suit your budget and needs as follows:
DDPi download
For £25 per format, you get CD production mastered tracks in the DDPi file format for download limited to 79 times.
I-Tunes download
You can supply 24bit master files in the Abbey Road iTunes certified studios for £30 per track.
Physical CD Masters
Costs £50 per format to get your tracks CD production mastered tracks supplied on a CD master as either DDPi format or PMCD. You also get extra listening copies in bunches of 10* CDRS.
LP Album
The album costs £550 per format in which tracks are cut into a lengthy Vinyl production track and provided as Lacquer. It is supplied to a maximum length of 20-25 minutes per side.
12’’ Single
It is approximately £450 per format. Tracks have a maximum length of 14-15 minutes per side. The tracks are supplied as Lacquer after being cut to 12” Vinyl production master.
7” Single
Tracks have a max length of 6-7 minutes per side, and tracks are cut to a 7” Vinyl production master for £350 per format.
Pros
• Affordable since it is cheaper than going to the studio to work with mastering engineers.
• Pro-level mastering of your songs.
• Master is done to your liking from reference tracks provided.
• Its budget plan is flexible.
Cons
• It takes a long time to get your mastered tracks ready (can’t guarantee 2-3 days turnaround).
Frequently Asked Questions
1. In what format can I submit a track?
Abbey Road Studios prefer WAV and AIFF formats, with Uncompressed Stereo of 24bit (minimum 16bit) depth and sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz to 96 kHz. It would be best if you left as much headroom as possible for the mastering engineers to work.
2. Having trouble uploading tracks, what might be the problem?
The track being too long, in the wrong format or the name saved using special characters can cause the upload failure. Tracks should be 10 minutes or shorter, the structure should be specified above, and the title should only have letters and numbers.
3. How will I know the mastering process is complete, and how do I download it?
Once your track is ready, you will be notified via email and a message through their Abbey Road Online Mastering home page. To download your track, you will have to log in to your account, head over to the relevant project, and click on the blue ‘Job Ready’ link. You can download ready tracks within a month.
4. Am I allowed any revisions on my track?
Abbey Road Studios allows for one revision on the mastered track.
5. How secure is the Abbey Road Online Mastering Site?
The Abbey Road Online site is protected by standard 128 bit SSL encryption to restrict your account access to only you. The encryption is inclusive to uploads and downloads as well as payment transactions. You are advised not to share your login passwords with anyone and change your password frequently for added security.
Conclusion
Mastering is not a simple task; thus, hiring a mastering engineer can make your audio tracks sound much better by covering up flaws in the original mix. Mastering studios often make coherent albums from disparate tracks and balance between sound quality and loudness.
A mastering technician will give your music a fresh perspective and help you identify the mistakes which should have been solved by you, your producer, and your recording engineer.
When choosing an engineer, go for someone who sympathizes with your taste even when everyone else disagrees. The Abbey online mastering studio allows you to select a master engineer after reading their profiles on the company’s website.
We can see that online mastering saves much of your time and funds. If you need to have your music or soundtracks mastered, you now know which studio to approach.
