Bringing Your Recording Project to The Next Level.

You've spent your hard earned money and time in the studio recording and mixing your project.

What's Next?

Taking Your Music to the Next Level

If a production is destined for commercial release or even for local radio airplay, mastering is highly recommended. If certain criteria are not met, there's a very good chance that radio stations won't even consider it for air time, or they will over process it during playback and give it an entirely different sound than you may want. Our goal is to educate you on the importance of mastering, what it does to your production, and maybe just as important, to inform you on just how surprisingly affordable the process can be at National Media Services.

Mastering Defined

To put it simply, mastering is, "Taking an already great sounding production and make it sound even better." From project studios to professional recording facilities, from independent artists to the major record label artist, mastering is understood as being an essential process in the completion of any musical production, and is the final step that will make your mixes sound bigger and better.

Creating continuity between tracks by addressing track transitions, fades, relevant dynamics between the tracks, and overall dynamics preferences are key steps in the mastering process. We also address aspects such as frequency balance, harmonic distortions or enhancements, dynamic headroom, stereo imaging, ambient distractions such as extraneous noises during intros and fades, and filtering simple digital anomalies and noise floor issues such as hiss & hum that may be present or enhanced during the mastering process.

The Art of Mastering

Mastering is an art, and should be trusted to trained and experienced mastering engineers.

Our Chief Mastering Engineer represents you as an experienced and educated consultant. He's your "second set of unbiased ears". You'll receive a reference CD after mastering to review and approval. We understand this is YOUR creation and it's our responsibility to see that your ideas are translated onto your final master. We'll achieved this by communicating with you during the process until you are completely satisfied with your product.

Free Consultation

Are you not even sure if your project will benefit from mastering? Send your master to our studio for a free evaluation. Our chief mastering engineer will consult with you "one-on-one" in an attempt to understand your preferences for the final sound. You'll receive a description of suggested technical changes and or audio enhancements that could be utilized to get the sound you want. It's this communication that will continue until your master is satisfactory, and hopefully will develop into a lasting working relationship for your future projects. This can help to ensure that your mix is as close to final as possible before mastering. Even though you are the final decision maker, we are here to help.

What Formats Do We Accept

We can handle many formats of analog for extraction, whether it is cassette tape, vinyl discs in all sizes and speeds, 7" & 10" open reel tapes recorded in speeds from 1- 7/8 ips to 30 ips, and from 1/4" stereo to 1/2" 16 tracks. We can also handle most digital formats and extensions including but not limited to .mp3 (up to 320 Kbit constant or variable bit rates), and .wav files, hard (.cda) audio CDs, DVD audio, digital audio tapes, and Minidisk, and we can handle wav conversions from 96 kHz sampling rates. We are comfortable with bit rates of 16, 24, and 32. If you are uncertain about the attributes of your digital media, please don't hesitate to call and we can help you over the phone.

Is Mastering Affordable?

How does only $35* per song sound? For nearly a third of the cost of other major mastering studios, National Media Services has the gear and the talent to rival the best mastering suites in the country. But don't take our word for it, read our customer testimonials. We'll make your music ready for commercial release and your project will receive the individual care and attention it deserves. Most professionals will agree that mastering is the best investment they can make in their project.

* Minimum mastering fee of $150.00. The mastering fee is based on jobs with a manufacturing commitment to National Media Services. There will be a charge of $200 for mastering jobs that will not be manufactured at National Media Services.