Mastering Services

Intro

Having mastered my previous two commercial projects myself, I am now taking on a small number of private mastering jobs. The studio is currently set up for stereo audio projects, for CD or digital release.

Over the past 10 years I have gotten to grips with the complexities of mastering electronic music in particular. My music has been critically well received and has had airplay on UK and US radio as well as being used for documentaries, advertising and idents on TV, radio and cinema.

Current Work

I have just finished mastering 14 Versions of the Same EP / Long Division with Remainders for Front and Follow. This is a boxed set of 4 CDs, comprising 56 tracks by 14 artists, ranging ambient soundscapes to raging digital noise. Artists include Helen Watson, Sone Institute, BLK w/BEAR, Cats Against the Bomb, Isnaj Dui, Barnaby Oliver, The Abominable Mr Tinkler, Volume = Colour, Susan Hawkins, The Truth About Frank, Spool Ensemble, TagCloud and Leyland Kirby.

My next job is mastering the re-issue of Claudia Brucken’s solo album from 1994 produced by Pascal Gabriel, for Cherry Red Records.

Equipment and Approach

My general approach to mastering is based on over twenty years of creating electronic music. It starts with careful listening of your material, followed by applying just the right amount of processing to get the track where it needs to be. Tell me what you want from the mastering and I’ll be happy to get it just right for you.

Currently I work entirely in the digital domain using Sony Sound Forge Pro 10 and a small number of high quality plug-ins which I know very well including the mastering plug-ins from Universal Audio. Most of the time I use my main studio Alesis monitors but cross reference my work listening to the mixes through my high-end hi-fi speakers from B&W and various other systems around the house. I know my equipment,and my listening environments very well indeed and I can confidently make critical judgements of EQ and loudness. Yes, it’s the same sort of kit you might have yourself, but then, it’s not about what you’ve got, it’s what you do with it that counts.

Beware music equipment snobbery! There’s nothing wrong with good results from modest kit but there is everything wrong with a CD that cost a fortune to master but sounds crappy even though someone stuffed it through a £4,000 compressor.

How it Works

1. Get in touch, tell me about your project and I’ll book the time in my diary. As soon as you can let me know when you want the mastering done the easier it will be for me to slot you in.

2. Send me the highest bit-rate mixes you can on a CD or DVD through the post, along with CD text, ISRC codes, track fade/cross fade info (if applicable), and I’ll get working on it.

3. I’ll do your mastering in the agreed timescale and send you a CD back to review and a master in whatever format you want.

 

Costs

£300 per CD, a little more if you want the master on Exabyte DDP or another format

Special crazy offer! If we haven’t worked together before, I’ll do you one track for £20 so you can see if you think it’s worth it. Send me an email with some info on your track, I’ll send you a PayPal invoice and info on how to upload your track to the kenpeel.com server. Turnaround time for the One Track Special Crazy Offer is about 3 days, but usually less. If you like what you hear and want me to master your CD you get the £20 off the cost of the job i.e. £280. How’s that?