• an indie artist who wants to sell CD's at your concerts or website? Or just upload some files for your fans to download?
• part of a Classical chamber ensemble or Jazz group with a live concert recording?
• running a small independent CD label with a growing stable of artists?
• part of a school with a music class concert?
• an artist returning to the scene with an open reel (or even just a cassette!!!) as your only source master?
• involved with anything to do with some kind of a musical organization?

You also know you need to get it mastered and edited to give it that final polish.

But you're on a tight budget.

Why should you even care about all this?!

You want to keep your listener coming back again and again to your music.

And you know you can't afford the high priced mastering houses with their expensive analogue gear.

So what to do?

Should you do it yourself again?

What should you look (listen!) for when deciding to use lower cost grass roots, budget mastering houses that rely on software?

You're going to find out all you need to know about mastering software (and maybe some things you don't want to!) to make your own informed choice about having your CD or audio files mastered.

And you'll find info on related software that will enhance and help finish your final master. We'll even have a look at some of the free mastering software tools available and whether you should take a chance on it.

So what don't you probably want to hear?

Well first off, there's one thing software and doing-it-yourself will never give you: an impartial, professional 3rd party opinion.

That's one thing mastering is definitely about.

I can also tell you from professional experience – there are no one-size-fits-all presets to magically finish your masterpiece.

Every project is unique. Mastering is not done by any set formula.

With computer power increasing everyday, mastering software has become very capable of providing a commercial finished result. I know this otherwise I would not be getting repeat clients.

I've broken Mastering down to three stages: editing; signal processing; and CD burning. Some software is capable of preforming all three; others, especially signal processing, are best handled with what's called third party software or plug-ins. Each has its own unique way of dealing with the various problems encountered in mastering. So what are those “problems”, anyway?

Well browse through my site and read on!!

Enjoy!!