Steve PMHEver tried mastering your own music? If you are an inexperienced artist producing from home, it probably comes out sounding quiet and limp compared to the hits you hear on the radio. You probably ask yourself where the difference is. Well, the difference is the mastering that has been done on the hits you hear to make them sound clear and magnificent.
Mastering is the process of bringing the music to a professional level of loudness and sonic polish. It is the final step in the music-making process.
Before, mastering used to be an expensive and time-consuming process. However, things have changed these days. If you have a song that you need to be mastered, you can easily do so online. eMastered and Landr are tools where you can upload your music, click a few buttons, wait and then have access to an automatically mastered version.
This article focuses on both eMastered and Landr giving an insight at the benefits and downsides they have over each other, in order to guide you on which one of them is better at giving your music that professional polished sound.
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eMastered
Emastered is an online audio mastering engine that is easy to use, fast and sounds incredible. It is made by Grammy-winning engineers and powered by AI. It is a new tool that has cloud-mastering that makes it easy to give your music a more professional finished sound.
Key eMastered features
Advanced reference mastering
This feature allows you to upload a reference track and the mastering engine will analyze it and master your track using the reference file.
Advanced mastering options
Here you will find options allowing you to tweak your masters by applying innovative mastering features.
File types
Here are a variety of file types:
- High-resolution MP3(320kbps) – a small file type your music is converted into, great for sharing music online
- High definition WAV (up to 192 k/24 bit)- a file type of higher quality than the one prior mentioned
- Uncompressed WAV, (4.4 times quality of the high-res MP3)- a lossless, uncompressed CD-quality music file, suitable for uploading to streaming services.
Cloud storage
This allows you to store all your songs in a private library as a backup in case you lose your files.
Track statistics
You get to check out how many people have been listening to your tracks on your public page.
Easy and instant online mastering
eMastered features a simple and straightforward webpage that lets you upload your music quickly and easily for free if you are not subscribed to a paid plan. The homepage has a professional look and feel.
This is a customizable page that has a library of all or a few of your selected tracks that you can share with your fans.
How does it work
To access the services of eMastered, you first have to sign up for the software through a paid plan of your preference to fully access all the software’s features. To master your tracks, after signing up, there’s a simple process to follow to get you there.
You first upload your song in the variety of formats on the website that the software supports by clicking on the circle on the home page. The song will then be sent to the online server and prepared for mastering. Their cutting edge mastering application will analyze your audio and pick the tools it needs to actually master your song on its own.
Compare the eMastered audio master to your original file for free and download it as a WAV or MP3 with the click of a button.
Prices and plans
eMastered has a pricing plan for every workflow. There are various packages paid for either annually or monthly.
Here are more details about the packages ;
- Buy Plus- at $6/month, or $72 billed annually
- Buy Pro– at$15/month, or $180 billed annually
- Buy Advanced Pro– $29/month, Annual commitment
- Buy Advanced Plus-$19/month, Annual commitment
If you are not completely satisfied with your subscription within 14 days (and have less than 4 downloads total) you can cancel and get a full refund.
Landr
Landr is an online, cloud-based, automated mastering service developed by MixGenius in Montreal, QC that allows for the upload of audio tracks in various formats which are then digitally mastered using artificial intelligence algorithms.
It is also inclusive of digital music distribution services allowing users to push their work to popular streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and others.
Key Landr features
Landr Academy
There is a section on the site that is meant to provide you with tips to help you with your career called the Landr academy. It contains information about promotion, mastering and mixing your music, and interviews with successful artists to help you as an artist build yourself.
Link to Soundcloud
This Soundcloud feature gives it an advantage over other platforms. Soundcloud is practically mandatory when you are distributing your music with any platform. Landr provides you with the option to link your Soundcloud account therefore once you upload your song to Landr, it will be sent to Soundcloud and optimized for the platform at no extra cost.
Landr Desktop
Landr gives you the option to download their desktop app. The app offers features such as mastering of tracks, building and distributing releases, checking your status, collaborations and promotions same as their website.
Collaborate
Landr has a collaborators section which lets you share your work with friends, producers, and other artists to get their feedback on your music. This positively impacts you by helping you improve your sound or innovate great idea on the fly without having to meet face to face.
Professional tools
Landr has a set of solid professional tools. For instance, one tool provides you with promotional links to your music allowing fans to easily find and enjoy your new release on the platforms they enjoy most. This is very important for tracking purposes as you can monitor these links to see how much traffic they received.
No withdrawal thresholds to Paypal
As long as you have a linked PayPal account, you can withdraw your money from Landr. Even better is the fact that there is no threshold on your withdrawals.
Prices and plans
Landr has tried to package mastering services and distribution services together. If you choose to leverage both, you will need to select either basic, advanced or pro plan. Here is pricing for both monthly and yearly options.
- Basic (Quick, dirty, compressed) – Monthly billed $6 (Pay yearly $48 and save 32%)
- Go basic – LO-MP3s unlimited, HI-MP3 $4.99, WAV $8.99 (10% off), HD WAV $17.99 (10% off)
- Advanced (Small files that sound great)- Monthly billed $14 (Pay yearly $108 and save 35%)
- Go advanced – LO-MP3s unlimited, HI-MP3s unlimited, WAV $6.99(30% off), HD WAV $17.99(10% off)
- Pro (The gold standard) – Monthly billed at $39 (Pay yearly $299 and save 37%)
- Go pro – LO-MP3s unlimited, HI- unlimited, WAVs unlimited, HD WAV $17.99 (10% off)
What are the pros of eMastered compared to Landr
- In terms of speed, eMastered is faster with songs processed and available for download in under a minute compared to Landr’s two minutes or so for a download to be sent by email.
- Currently eMastered is free to use, unlike Landr which can go up to $25 per month depending on how you want to use it. Plus, eMastered top plan is free, unlike Landr where you’ll have to pay extra for high-quality 24-bit audio masters.
What are the pros of Landr compared to eMastered
- Landr is a solid platform that offers mastering and distribution services together all in one package helping you save on the two services while eMastered only offers mastering services forcing you to opt for other online distribution services.
- With Landr, you can easily collaborate with anyone in the world through their collaboration section on their website. eMastered lacks the collaboration option making it hard to share your music with other artists and getting their feedback.
- Landr has a vast number of outlets and release options. It offers a wide variety of online music stores for distribution and you can select as many as you wish or remove stores you don’t want to distribute to. eMastered does not offer distributon services thus incapable of offering release options
- Landr opts to give you free samples to use in your music from other producers without making you go through the crazy legal work while eMastered does not give you the ability to get free samples to incorporate in your music.
Verdict
Both Landr and eMastered are undoubtedly impressive platforms that have revolutionalized the art of music mastering. The two platforms do the same job: they both master your music to suit any style or genre, transforming it into an awesome sounding-track with automatic mastering.
However, compared to eMastered, I believe Landr is the better service provider. It is a more well-rounded product, having more features and options. It also has the advantage of offering distribution services which are easy and artist-friendly. This helps an artist to earn, keep all their earnings and protect their rights to their music.
With eMastered, the simple fact that it lacks distribution services makes Landr the winner in my book.
That being said, these are both really great platforms if all you are looking to get out of them is a mastered track. I hope this article has given you the insight you need to help you decide which product is the best fit for you.
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