CD Mastering Advice From Our Engineers

The SoundLab CD Mastering Engineers are experts in post production, and we are committed to delivering the best-sounding projects. Your creativity and your music is an important part of who you are. We have the knowledge and experience to bring out the best of your musical performance and vision.

"I think the basis for a good sounding record is a great drum and bass sound. If you start off with great sounds there, the rest of the audio sounds good too. If the bass in the mix is weak and thin, then as a mastering engineer, my task has been made more difficult. It's almost impossible to create punch and power when there is nothing there to start with." Paul

Click here to read an interview with Paul from Mix.

"Even a great-sounding mix can sound better with our awesome array of top-of-the-line gear and our diverse team of knowledgeable, musically astute engineers." Jeff

"If you're recording and mixing in a small project studio, with less than ideal acoustics and only a small set of near field monitors, be aware that certain frequency ranges(particularly the low end)may not be reproduced accurately. Over the course of many days or weeks working in this environment your ears will become used to this inaccurate sound and you will tend to over mix or EQ those frequencies to compensate. The result may be a mix that sounds severly unbalanced when played back on systems outside of the studio.

Beyond the top notch gear, the Soundlab offers a wide variety of monitors, both large and small, in rooms designed for critical and accurate listening. Areas that need to be boosted or cut can be quickly identified in these listening environments, and our engineers can take steps in the mastering process to help you achieve a balanced mix that sounds great on all playback systems." Brian

"A good sounding album needs a good relationship between the bass and high end. There has to be a clean bass response. Muddiness in the low end can make the sound of the song lose its focus. I like to make the bass bumpin'. You have to have that nice and clean pillow in the subs. Also, just because a CD is loud, it doesn't mean it sounds great. Sometimes it sounds better not having your master squashed to "0"dB. Many commercial releases will have peaks at "0"dB, but the music will hang around anywhere from -10dB to -5dB. Leaving some dynamics is good. If the music is squashed, there is nowhere for the music to go - no room to escalate." Tom

"CD Mastering is your last opportunity to make a positive impact on how your music will sound... quality CD Mastering is essential." Dave

"One step that goes a long way in making a great recording is starting off with great sounds. Many artists begin recording without taking the time to make their instruments sound as good as possible. The best advice that I can give any artist is to spend time on the front end tuning drums, choosing guitars and other instruments that produce the tonal quality you are looking for on your recording, rather than trying to fix sounds with EQ and effects on the back end during mixing and mastering. If your instuments sound good in the room then, with proper microphone choice and placement, they will sound good on the finished product." Graham

"When submitting a master for post production, try to peak your levels at around -2 to -4dB. This allows our engineers a reasonable amount of headroom to work with on your project. The same thought goes for compression. Compression can always be added, but can't be taken away. If it comes to us overcompressed, then the damage is already done." Joe