Try a Google search of “Mastering Studios.” You will find hundreds of studios currently offer mastering services in the United States. So as a recording artist, where should you start? How do you weed out the multitude of studios and engineers that will gladly take your money and process you mixes through a pre-set mastering plug-in from the guys that build their reputation with each and every song they master?
For what it’s worth, below is a short list of things to consider when searching for a mastering studio:
1) Get a free sample. All reputable mastering engineers will master a portion of a song free of charge. Make sure you submit a song that is dynamically complex (a lot of low volume to high volume changes). This will weed out the engineers that are cookie-cutters, here as they will destroy the song’s dynamics.
2) Trust. Find a devoted engineer that you trust to engage your project 100%. Professional mastering is a time-consuming art and cannot be rushed without cutting corners.
3) Experience. Make certain your engineer has the credentials. References should be readily available on the studio website.
4) Equipment. This is simple, you should see names like API, Manley, EAR, Neve, GML, Crane, Weiss, to name a few.
Contact Andrew Mitchell with any questions and/or comments:
andy@audiobaymastering.com