Professional Audio Project Completion
The best your music can sound!
About Soundsmiths
“Our prime directive is to ensure your creation sounds the way you intend it.”
Soundsmiths Mastering is a multi-Grammy award-winning company specializing in traditional mastering, and other audio services. Our past projects include Billboard and Amazon music chart-toppers, and many all-time best-selling and award-winning audiobooks, such as the sales juggernaut Harry Potter series for Penguin Random House Audio.
For most people, mastering means professional dynamics and equalization. But it's also stereo image tuning, problem detection and prevention—any final polishing before distribution. Our prime directive is to ensure your creation sounds the way you intend it.Whatever that takes!
We have a quiet, acoustically neutral environment with transparent playback equipment, designed deliberately not to have a sound of its own. If something is wrong, we can hear it. Then if you want us to, we can fix it.
Take the worry out of releasing a project you've worked so hard creating. With our experience in distribution, manufacturing and production, we stand in the gap for you with confidence. Let us show you how good it feels to have professional help at this crucial transition!
GALLERY
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Digital Mastering
Soundsmiths takes your mixed/edited audio to the ultimate level for CD, vinyl or digital. We listen to you and we listen to your mixes. Then we find ways to bring your intentions to life before it's released to your audience.
Mix environments are designed for creative people to work in pleasurably. They are not designed primarily for critical listening. Therefore most unmastered mixes sound better in the studio than they do elsewhere. Our job is to listen to your audio in terms of what it needs to sound its best, and then apply those changes. It is an art, but one with highly technical requirements. So we have to know technology and employ it wisely.
But we place an even higher value on the human side. We have the skills to communicate with you to reveal your intentions and desires for your creation. So we listen a lot! To you. To commercial recordings. To live acoustic sound. And to your sound. Then we apply what we've learned, to realize the ultimate version of what you've made.
Mastering For Vinyl
Vinyl can be made from masters with higher resolution than CD, and requires special handling for bass frequencies. It's also typically more dynamic than a CD master.
The master will probably need to be shorter than CD, and has to be split between A and B sides. See the table below for more detail.
Soundsmiths Mastering creates wav files optimized for vinyl manufacturing. Ask for a quote or just contact us for more information.
Optimal and Maximum Times for Vinyl Sides:
| 12" @ 33 1/3 RPM: | 12" @ 45 RPM: |
|---|---|
| OPTIMAL - 16 to 20 minutes per side | OPTIMAL - 6 to 12 minutes per side |
| MAXIMUM - 25 minutes per side | MAXIMUM - 15 minutes per side |
| 10" @ 33 1/3 RPM | 10" @ 45 RPM |
| OPTIMAL - 9 minutes per side | OPTIMAL - 8 minutes per side |
| MAXIMUM - 14 minutes per side | MAXIMUM - 10 minutes per side |
| 7" @ 33 1/3 RPM (unwise) | 7" @ 45 RPM |
| OPTIMAL - 5 minutes per side | OPTIMAL - 3 minutes per side |
| MAXIMUM - 7 minutes per side | MAXIMUM - 5 minutes per side |
Other Services
Services besides traditional mastering we also offer:
QUALITY CONTROL - Evaluate masters prior to distribution
COMPILATION MASTERS - from various sources
DIGITAL AUDIO EDITING
SOURCE TRANSFERS - (from LP, 1/4-in. tape, DAT, etc.)
DIGITAL CONVERSIONS - word-length, sample rate, etc.
UPC/EAN and ISRC SUB-CODING
CD TEXT
CONSULTATION
WHATEVER IT TAKES!
Studio Time
Studio hours booked in advance and by appointment only.
We do mastering with or without client attendance - same rate!
GIVE US A CALL:
If you have questions, want a quote for your project, or to arrange a demo of our services, we'll be happy to talk to you!
Or send us a message using the form on the right.
We offer upload/download options for getting your mix files to us, and for delivery of the final master to you or to your choice of replication and/or distribution companies.
PAYMENTS may be made to:
PayPal.Me/Soundsmithsdotcom.
Phone (USA): 828-254-2175
LEAVE US A MESSAGE:
PAYMENTS may be made to:
Professional Audio Project Completion
The best your music can sound!