Record Labels, Musicians And Bands Should Consider Low Cost Online Mastering.

As the end of a musical production bands and musicians consider mastering, this is an article that suggests that record labels who may already pay considerable sums for mastering may benefit from trying out a lower cost mastering service.
Mastering of music has typically cost 45.00-115.00 / track, this is an essential process at the end of the audio production stage but also a considerable expense for those involved. Many label bosses/administrators will give their mastering to an engineer with which they have worked with for a number of years. This is understandable and of course this familiarity has benefits. A trustworthy engineer who can provide consistent results. However as we all know the budgets within the music industry have shrunk considerably as the industry has adapted to the challenges that the internet and online distribution has necessitated.With this change there has been an adapting model within the operation of mastering facilities, namely online mastering. Online audio mastering is a model whereby recorded and mixed tracks are sent to an online mastering studio to be sonically improved and enhanced, adjusted for best reproduction and translation across music playback systems and compiled onto a CD Pre-Master ready for duplication. The major benefit of online mastering is that the costs can be as little as a 1/4 of a typical attended mastering studio. Many labels will instantly think that there must be quality differences (lowering of standards) for this pricing to be possible. It has to be said that there is certainly many online mastering facilities which will not have the engineer experience to legitimately master the music to a high standard, this must be checked and in addition there needs to be great care in choosing the facility as there are some inexperienced operators (as with any industry). I put forward the case for online mastering which is low cost and assists record labels in making maximum profits against the investment in their artists musical output.

Why all record labels should try mastering a project using a lower cost online mastering service?

1)All businesses change suppliers from time to time and this can actually be an improvement on existing arrangements.
2)Without trying such a service they will never know how good such mastering can be.
3)It demonstrates an understanding of how to increase a record labels business performance.
4)Because there is considerable savings to be made that enhance profitability.
5)There is very little risk if you choose the right online mastering studio (some offer free previews) and you receive master previews for approval before commitment to disk .

How can a studio master an album for up to 1/4 the price ?
Here are some reasons :

1)Correct equipment decisions means quality is not lost but outlay for the studio is much lower.
2)Operating costs are lower than before.
3)Digital software allows some expensive equipment to be abandoned (i.e. digital equalizers). This does not apply to analogue equipment.
4)Realization that the industry has changed and that revenues are lower means this can be reflected in online mastering pricing.
5)Some mastering studios simply make better business decisions than others. (This is evident across all industries that exist)
6)One single studio in operation so there are not multiple studios to pay rent for, keeping costs low.

Why in some cases quality does not suffer :

1)Quality control is performed using exactly the same equipment as any other mastering studio (disk error checking, manual listen back)
2)The same high resolution equipment is being used (and is verifiable on the website)
3)The client receives free previews of all work before any commitment on sound is made.
4)You can check some engineers are highly experienced and this is verifiable.
5)Audio obsessives care about the products they release as they know this reflects on their services and career longevity.