“Mastering by Mail” - “Mail Order Mastering” - Yes, it can sound scary. Allow MASSIVE Mastering to walk the walk and not just talk the talk -

SAMPLE “AUDITION” MASTER: If you’ve got mixes ready for mastering, send us a disc of a track (CD-A or PCM - wav, aiff, etc. only, please), a blank CD-R and a SASE or better yet, a USPS Priority stamp. MASSIVE Mastering will perform a “ballpark” master on a tune, and send you an A/B file of a minute or two for you to audition. * 

What exactly do we mean by a “ballpark” job?  Keep in mind that one track doesn’t make an album - The process of “sweetening” is a track-by-track process. The process of “mastering” takes into account the album as a whole. Hearing only one track, there may be several directions to go with it. Hearing a track as part of a collection of tracks may suggest a different approach.  Without hearing the track in context with the rest of the project, getting it “in the ballpark” is simply an educated guess - Perhaps not tweaked quite as much, but very close to what the final product would be. 

Allow me to be frank - 90% of tweaking takes only 10% of the time. It’s that last 10% that takes 90% of the time. The “ballpark” treatment gets you a sample file that’s right in the ballpark, without taking an incredible amount of time away from current projects. 

Speaking of time, feel free to download the “Checklist” file from this site. Even for an audition, it’ll keep us on the same page. We’re happy to provide this “audition” service for you, but we cannot compromise out clients’ projects. Remember - We’re trying to make YOU a client of MASSIVE Mastering. You wouldn’t want us setting your paid project aside for too long, would you? That being said, sample masters can take anywhere from 2-3 weeks (but normally quicker), depending on the current workload. If you absolutely must have it sooner, please feel free to contact MM and we’ll try to work something out. 

Just mail it off to: MASSIVE Mastering -- P.O. Box 68143 -- Schaumburg, IL 60168 

BE SURE TO SEND A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE AND A BLANK CD-R OR YOUR SAMPLE WILL NOT BE PROCESSED.

* As much as I’d like to, we cannot offer this service via e-mail or FTP as we used to. Shortly after starting the “audition” master service, we were getting a volume of sample requests that could not be handled in an efficient manner. 

PROJECT / MIX CONSULTATION: SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY - PLEASE E-MAIL OR CALL FIRST!

If you’re mixing in a home/project studio and you want your mixes to be as “mastering-friendly” as possible, you can send in some final mixes if you still have the ability to change them. We’ll listen carefully for certain things that may not be noticed in the studio - Effects levels, over-compression and EQ’ing anomalies, stereo imaging and phase problems, etc. After listening, we’ll put together a checklist of possible changes or improvements that may make your project sound better in the end. 

There is a one-hour charge for sonsultation - $125 - And it applies to your project!. If you master with MASSIVE Mastering within one month of your consultation, we will take that cost off of your project if the project is over 11 minutes in length. It’s like getting the consultation for free, and you may wind up with a more “optimum” master than you may have otherwise. Think of it as a practice run - You can’t go wrong! 

IN EITHER CASE - With sample masters & project consultations, it is HIGHLY recommended that you download the “Checklist” file from the MASSIVE Mastering site. Fill out the parts that seem appropriate to your project - Especially the “Project Direction” sheet. As it would be at ANY mastering session, communication is key.