FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is mastering? Is it important?
Mastering is the final artistic and technical production step a song or record goes through before master files are sent to the manufacturing plant or distributed to streaming services.
During mastering my focus is on good balances, appropriate power, and honoring the sonic world of every song.
Having an experienced set of ears listen to your music in a true critical listening environment provides the opportunity to assess how the music will translate to the wide range of playback situations in the world. If things sound great, terrific! If things need a little, or a little more than a little help, that will be clear as well.
How long does mastering take?
Usually I can master a record in a day, unless there is a lot of clean up to do. Cleaning unwanted sounds out of recordings, like clocks, birds, or cars driving by adds time to the process. I strive to create an experience that is free of “what was that?” events. Anything that breaks the moment for me has to be questioned and cleaning those events out of a record takes time.
What’s the story with Apple Digital Masters?
Sounds & Substance is an approved Apple Digital Masters mastering studio. Usually your aggregator has to jump through an extra hoop to supply these files to Apple. Every master from Sounds & Substance meets the standards for ADM.
What do I get when the mastering is done?
A DDP fileset (see DDP FAQ) is created for all cd projects, as well as 16 and 24 bit WAV files, and 320kbps MP3 files. Other formats can easily be supplied as needed (FLAC, AIF, etc.).
Final files go into Dropbox, a cloud storage service, where they remain for at least a few years. Links are provided to download the files (no Dropbox account needed), and the links can also be used to send the music to reviewers, record labels, your mom, or your agent.
What’s a DDP?