Dubstepforum.com

This is a bit of a plug for Bob Macc's mastering service, Subvert Central Mastering. Basically, if you're looking at hawking your music around DJ's or labels or putting tunes up on myspace / virb / whatever or playing your stuff out digitally and you aren't sure whether you can afford to send them off to Transition but still want them to sound as nice as possible, then this is well worth a look.

It's probably not on a par with somewhere like Transition, and they wouldn't claim to be (Bob gets his own stuff done at Heathmans, I think). But it probably is a shedload better than just running your stuff through cracked copies of vintage warmer and waves multiband and L2 until your ears bleed.

It's also a very transparent and no-bullshit service, not some shady "give us your money then we'll crank your tune through L2 and laugh all the way to the bank" operation - iirc, you send off your tunes to them and they'll send back a clip of the mastered tune for you to listen to and compare with the original before you send them your cash. They'll redo it if you're not happy with the results.

I haven't used it myself (no tunes good enough to be worth mastering so far!) but their satisfied customers include King Cannibal, Martsman, Subtle Audio, Naphta, Counter Intelligence and others.

They also do a mixing service, but that's a) more expensive and b) less likely to be of interest to dubstep producers.

More info, credentials, audio samples, prices etc here: http://mastering.subvertcentral.com/

If people have got questions or whatever, either sign up for Subvert Central and ask Bob there, or post here and he'll probably be happy to sign up and answer them.

Wotcher all

Been pointed over here by a few people already, but finally plucked up the courage to say hello. Sorry for the spam there, but thanks to Slothrop for doing that. I just realised ThinKing is a mod here, and he knows I'm alright (hope you're well man btw!). I certainly don't want to tread on anyone's toes or anything.

But yeah, there's no getting around it - we're actively looking for people who want high-quality mastering, cheap. Been producing for 15 years or something, was doing it informally for people and more and more people started getting in touch. So we're now expanding, hence my posting here.

Gear-wise we've got some tasty analogue and digital gear, high quality conversion, good monitoring and a load of experience. It's totally risk-free, which was important to us - you don't pay a penny until you are happy. There's a lot of testimonials on the site (mostly nicked from ecstatic email responses ) , as well as a few clips, but personally I'm not a big fan of that - I prefer people to come and tell us what THEY want.

The site's here; http://mastering.subvertbeats.com and will be getting updated a lot in the coming months. I'm very often on AIM too, MaccSCMastering , and I am always happy to chat with people about stuff. So don't be shy. It's cheesy as fuck, but you really haven't got anything to lose

Be nice to hear what you lot are up to over here, and sorry if this is too blatant for this forum. Tell ThinKing I'll buy him one of those wicked pies to apologise...

Cheers,

Bob Macc

Big up bob, I read your Q&A on DOA and it was quite a good read and this comes off as a good, honest service for a lot of us poor bedroom producers starting to get stuff out there..

I think at some point i'll be looking at giving it a go... anyways welcome to the board and hope to see ya posting

Nice one Tempest, glad you liked the Q+A, it was fun

Thanks for the welcome!

Cheeky back-from-holiday-bump

Quite a nice price! I'm interested, but what about payments? How?

Hello there!

Bank transfers, paypal, cash, carrier pigeon with a cheque.... whatever suits you man!

We aim to please and make people comfortable. It's important

Macc is THE MAN! Don't hesitate to use this service! You won't regret it.

Just to say there's been a couple of people got in touch through here, so thanks! Keep them coming too - don't be shy chaps!

Should have my Gyratec G14 EQ pretty soon too, and that thing is going to take the whole sound up another level (or 6!). Man I can't wait for that

Also - just got approval to use some clips from an amateur dubstep dude whose stuff I just mastered, so there will be one or two more clips relevant to this forum up soon. Heavy tunes too! I'm sure I'll bump this thread when they are up

Remember all, anything I can do to help, don't be shy to ask Did I mention it was risk free?

Hi Macc

Hello Ben

Macc is good. Don't be afraid peeps.

Thanks ThinKing Hope you've been well btw!

I'm aware we (rightly) don't carry the gravitas of Transition round these parts, but we do good work.

As an aside, I was at a club just the other night. All the tunes that had passed through my studio sounded very competitive in in all regards compared to those from more established studios, and better in a few cases. I was pleased.

So as he says, don't be shy

Cheers all!

My label is going to get the big macc attack very soon. Would have been done by now if my producers weren't slackers

abZ wrote:the big macc attack

The site's here; http://mastering.subvertbeats.com and will be getting updated a lot in the coming months.

im curious, although this question may show my lack of understanding about the mastering process, but heres my question

is there a length limit to a song? the prices on your page are per song, does it take longer for you as the mastering engineer to master a song based on how long it is?
are the different sections of the song, that might have different instruments, different frequencies, and different moods, EQ'd and compressed differently?
what about a peice that was under a minute or two, does the cost the same as and 8 minute track? what if an artist with even lengthier tracks approached you for mastering?

i'm not trying to be goofy, i'm just curious... also, do you know if the method you guys do pricing is common among other mastering services?

the examples sound good, i'll keep you in mind for when i'm ready for it

No offense taken. It's a perfectly legitimate question of course!

NoSpin wrote: is there a length limit to a song? the prices on your page are per song, does it take longer for you as the mastering engineer to master a song based on how long it is?

It all depends on the nature of the song really, as you mention below. A dnb tune might go on for 8 minutes with just a rolling amen and a bass, a rock tune might be three minutes but have a big string section and heavy bits and whatever else.

are the different sections of the song, that might have different instruments, different frequencies, and different moods, EQ'd and compressed differently?

A large part of that is down to the mix. But also the ME will generally be looking at the big picture. If the different parts need different treatment, they'll get it; if they don't, they won't Again, it depends - largely on the mix and song construction.

what about a peice that was under a minute or two, does the cost the same as and 8 minute track? what if an artist with even lengthier tracks approached you for mastering?

It's not an absolute cast-iron rule - but it is a very good catch-all figure. In all things, not just in the costing, mastering is about dialogue. If I need to adjust the price one way of the other, I'll discuss it with the client before I do anything at all.

I'm flexible, approachable and do my best to be fair and honest. I don't intend to sting anyone as much I wouldn't like them to do me over. Everyone should be happy once business is completed, that's about the size of it.

i'm not trying to be goofy, i'm just curious... also, do you know if the method you guys do pricing is common among other mastering services?

Prie per track is very common. Price per hour is also very comomon. Less common is price per mastered minute of music, but there are some people who do it that way.

the examples sound good, i'll keep you in mind for when i'm ready for it

Nice one Hopefully I've answered your questions, but don't hesitate to ask anything else you want

Cheers,

Bob.

Just had a tune Mastered by these guys, and its brilliant!
Its much louder, things are more clear & punchy, and theres an added warmth to the tune. They breathed new life into the tune.

Thanks Bob !

Had a good conversation with Mr. Macc the other night, top bloke! He's gonna take a stab at a new thingy of mine, and I'm quite excited to hear the results.

Usually my mixdowns are one of the things I get praised for (even Bob said it was pretty good himself! ) but, I'm sure from what I've heard he can take it to the next level.

Look forward to it!

Macc wrote:

are the different sections of the song, that might have different instruments, different frequencies, and different moods, EQ'd and compressed differently?

A large part of that is down to the mix. But also the ME will generally be looking at the big picture. If the different parts need different treatment, they'll get it; if they don't, they won't Again, it depends - largely on the mix and song construction.

how do you do that then? ride teh faders? (or automate stuff?)