About Mastering at Studios 301
Our engineers ensure every master is at its highest quality,
while always maintaining the mix’s integrity.
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Formats
Should you be releasing on CD, a CD Production Master is the critical last step in Mastering. This is the material from which all the CD’s are made, so it is essential that this be checked and error-free.
Studios 301 CD masters go through a rigorous quality control process, where the master is compiled, tested and then listen to in its entirety.
Formats
CD production masters are available in two formats:
- DDP and PMCD
DDP is the preferred format, as it is a file that can be uploaded, put onto a disk, backed up and have copies made.
PMCD is a high-quality physical audio CD, which cannot be backed up or copied, but may be required by some CD duplication companies doing a run of less than 500 CDs.
Fees & Charges
| Description | Price |
|---|---|
| DDP Master (digital upload) 1 to 6 songs | $160+GST |
| DDP Master (digital upload) 7 or more songs | $300+GST |
| DDP Master (on DVD, includes CD Audio Reference) | $350+GST plus postage (if required) |
| PMCD Master (on CD, includes CD Audio Reference) | $350+GST plus postage (if required) |
Mastering for Vinyl is an art, and a science, in which Studios 301 is uniquely qualified. Across our mastering team, we have engineers who have cut thousands of records to vinyl when it was the dominant music format.
Applying this knowledge and experience to modern-day vinyl mastering is what makes our vinyl masters sound superior.
The Vinyl Mastering process is a careful balance between the creative and the technical, ensuring that the best level and tone is achieved. The results are a rich, warm and smooth sound when cut to Vinyl.
Premium Analogue Vinyl Master
From your high quality source files, we (re)master specifically for the Vinyl format, ensuring that the best possible results are achieved.
Vinyl Production Master Conversion from CD or Apple Digital Masters. From our masters for these other formats, we re-tweak the material to be sonically and technically acceptable for Vinyl cutting and pressing.
Fees & Charges
| Description | Price |
|---|---|
| Premium Analogue Vinyl Master | additional $50+GST per song |
| Vinyl Production Master | $220+GST |
Since our first studio opened in 1926, we have led the way in recording technology in Australia – from the first multi-track analogue recording, to the first all-digital recording, and then the first Audio CD masters.
When uploading to Apple Music, Apple will now store your masters on their servers at up to 24 bit / 96kHz sample rate recording resolution, allowing for both better encoding into the latest Apple Music codec, and compatibility with future formats. If you have your music mastered at the full resolution at which it was recorded, you can now ensure that new generations of music formats will take advantage of the better-than-CD quality recordings that you make today.
Regardless of the specifics of any future format, we believe it is always best to start from the highest resolution master possible. Unlike physical media, digital archiving offers the advantage of exact, bit-for-bit copies that can be made with no signal degradation. As masters start making their way into the cloud, it’s important that the best possible high resolution copies be archived.
If you are recording at any resolution between 24 bit / 44.1kHz to 24 bit / 96kHz, we provide you a master at that same resolution, which doesn’t lose the benefit of the extra bits and samples captured during recording.
CD Master Format
We can still provide CD quality masters at 16 bit / 44.1kHz, which are mastered differently to be optimised for the lower quality format. These are required if you need a DDP or PMCD master.
Fees & Charges
| Description | Price |
|---|---|
| Apple Digital Masters format | No extra charge when provided stand-alone |
| CDM format | No extra charge when provided stand-alone |
| Both Apple Digital Masters & CDM formats | additional $50+GST per song |