Rock/Metal Affordable Mastering--PB Studios, Altoona, PA

                            Guitar Jams! Rock/Metal Affordable Mastering!
                                                                PB Studios, Altoona, PA

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                                                                Got Questions? Contact me today at pastorbrad@aol.com

                                    Why do I call what I do "Rock/Metal Affordable Mastering"?
                                                                It's pretty simple actually. I prefer to master rock style music-- Anything within the range of "new country"
                                                                (which I call "old rock") to pop, to Heavy Metal--I'm comfortable with. I just don't do rap, soul, R&B etc. I
                                                                I think that gives you a pretty good feel for what I'm comfortable working with. But if you have any
                                                                questions--email me. So that's where the "rock/metal" part of the name comes from... and my services
                                                                are very affordable (pricing is listed at the bottom of the page).

Why should you have your music mastered?
The simple/short answer--"Because it will sound a lot better!"   The more complete answer---Because, Recording, Mixing and Mastering are three very distinct phases. When you're RECORDING , your primary concern is capturing the very best performance you can on tape (or today, on your hard driive). Once you've got all your parts recorded to separate tracks--you move into the MIXING PHASE. When mixing there are three or four (depending on how you look at it) basic things that you're trying to accomplish:

1. EQing.   When you mix recorded instruments--especially with rock and metal music--there are certain frequencies that you need to pay careful attention to with each instrument. Making the proper EQ adjustments will really help your mix turn out nice!

2.   PANNING AND LEVELS. You want to set the level (or volume) of each track so that each instrument can be heard the way you want them to be heard. This would include "panning" instruments to the left or right, placing the instrument where you want it in the stereo field.

3. AFFECTS. You may want to add affects instruments/vocals. Maybe you want some chorus on a guitar, or reverb on a snare drum, or a touch of delay on your bass line? Mixing is where affects are added.

What will Mastering do for my album’s sonic quality?
When you finish mixing, you'll have a collection of songs that all sound pretty good.
But, most likely, there will be a couple things that aren't quite right... yet. This is               Listen to some samples of my music here...
where mastering comes in.

Mastering will...
1. Add punch and volume to your songs.

2. Create a sense of "uniformity" to your album. Mastering assures that your
songs will play at the same volume level. So that as a person listens to your album--
one song won't be quiet, and the next one crankin!

3. Add a sense of "warmth" and "space" or "bigness" (not sure bigness is a word... but you get the point) to your tracks. By applying the right amounts of "EQ", "multiband compression", "Excitation", "Widening" (and maybe a touch of mastering reverb) to your tracks--you will hear a huge improvement in the sonic quality of your songs.

Five reasons to let me master your rock/metal music for you:
1. Fresh Ears I have no idea if you're mixing your own music or not. If you are--then you will definately be a bit weary of "listening" by the time you are finished. Mixing is work. And handing your songs over to a fresh set of ears will make a big, and very positive difference in the final product.

Also--when you master music--you listen to it differently than you do when you're mixing. Instead of listening to individual tracks... you're listening to a whole song--and striving to polish/inhance the total package.   A fresh set of ears that know how to listen to your music from that perspective will make a big difference.

2. Experience I've invested, literally, thousands of hours into honing my production skills and knowledge. And I would be honored to apply all of it to your project!

3. Tools I've made the investment in the hardware/software to do this job right. My primary tools are Cakwalk Guitar Tracks Pro 3, Ozone's Izotope3. Beyond this I employ as wide variety of plugins to get the sound that's right for your music..

4. Service #1.I'm a muscian so I totally know where you're coming from and I will listen very carefully to what you want/need. #2. I NEVER take on more that ONE project at a time (aside from my own stuff of course). So, you and your album will get my full attention. You can call me or email at anytime during the process and I'll be happy to talk with you.

5. Affordability I charge $10 bucks for one song... but as the number of songs increases, the deal get's better! Prices are listed at the bottom of the page. I think they're really fair, I hope you do to.

I receive all payments via paypal. Paypal is an extremely safe and trustworthy way to send/receive payment on the web. You can pay me very easily using a debit/credit card via paypal--And if you have a paypal account--you know--that you can simply email me a payment from your account. It's safe... it's simple and it's secure.
For more info on paypal, check out www.paypal.com.

a bonus offer: Coaching while you mix

If you are mixing your own stuff... and if you want me to... I will offer you advice on mixing and guide you through some basic EQ applicatons that will help your mixes come out really nice. This will allow me to get the most out of your stereo tracks when I master them!

TRY A FREE SAMPLE!

Email me an mp3 of a track that is JUST MIXED... not one that you've tried to master already... and I'll master it for you and send it back---so you can hear the difference... Now--it will be an mp3 file--not the same level of quality you'll get from a wav file---but it will still give you a good idea of what mastering will do for your music!

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR MUSIC TO BE MASTERED
1) When you finish mixing each song--you will, at some point--mix all of the individual tracks down to ONE STEREO TRACK. THIS STEREO TRACK is what I will master. Listen carefully to the stereo track... you should be satisfied with how it sounds. Mastering won't "change" the mix--it will simply enhance it--so you need to like the mix. Also--listen closely and make sure that there is no "distortion" on the track--in digital recording this happens when a track is too loud... it will sound like poping/crackling... I can't fix this in the mastering process--as a matter of fact--mastering will generally make this sound even worse/more pronounced. If you are worried about this--when you mix down to your stereo tracks--simply cut your master volume by 2 or 3 dB...

2) Save each stereo song file as a wav file and burn them all to a CDR disc as a "data disc". Note--this disc will not play in a stereo... but if you want to make sure you have all the right songs on the disc---it will play on your computer. Also--make sure you export your files (from whatever software you are using -- to whatever folder you are saving your songs to) in 16 bit, and not 24 bit. Read your software manual on this... it'll be in there.

3) Send me -- printed on paper/with the CDR disc--THE SONG ORDER. Be sure to NAME each song file!!!

4) Mail the data disc to me.

When you are ready to send me your music files...
Email me @ pastorbrad@aol.com and I'll send you my address.

Once you pay for mastering services (BELOW) --I will give you my cell # so that we can stay in contact -- and so that you can call me with any thoughts of questions you have--I totally understand that THIS IS YOUR BABY... you have A LOT of yourself invested in this--and you may very well want to keep close tabs on how things are going.

Alright... if I can help you in any way---contact me at pastorbrad@aol.com

Thanks,
Pastor Brad
PB Studios
Altoona, PA