Smart Online Mastering System - How Our Online Mastering System Works

1. The first thing our automated mastering process does is scan your track for any peaks in the waveform. These peaks are then smoothed out in order to open up more volume headroom and even out the dynamic range of the entire track.

2. Next, the system determines an appropriate degree of light compression and expansion specific to your song which will help smooth out its presence and even out any inconsistencies in sound levels. We call this process volume envelope shaping.

3. After volume envelope shaping, next in the cdp mastering process we apply dynamic compression and limiting that is matched to the character of your music to help enhance its presence and increase its impact for optimal sound performance.

4. With the overall volume envelope and transient dynamics optimized the automated system now tests the frequency spectrum of the song and develops a specific ideal range of tones across the audible spectrum that would best suit the song. It then determines whether there are any peaks or dips in the sound spectrum that fall outside this range of ideal levels the intelligent mastering system has designed as a guideline for the song. Frequencies of sound falling outside of ideal are EQ'd accordingly to bring them into a proper blend of tones. In addition, we offer you the opportunity to indicate if you would like the music to be catered towards a particular genre of sound, and our mastering system takes this selection into account and adjusts the resulting EQ to represent that desired sound style.

5. One of the final steps in the CDP Mastering process is stereo image refinement. Adjustments are made to dynamics and EQ in your music that help widen any sounds that are too clustered around the center and blend in sounds that are pushed too drastically far to one channel or the other, helping to create a more coherent full soundstage for your tracks.

6. The final process in our automated online mastering system is a combination of compression and limiting specifically tailored to the needs of your song in order to bring its volume level up to proper industry standards. Again, the optional genre selection you may make will be taken into account and levels adjusted slightly quieter or louder according to the genre of sound you wish to emulate. In this way, for example, if you recorded a jazz song, but would like it mastered more in keeping with a modern hiphop track for artistic reasons, you can have that flexibility to convey that request to the mastering program.

Be sure to check out our Questions page or Contact Us if you need more details.

It's important to remember that the final results after mastering are also dependent upon the quality of your recording and mixing work as well. If you have a poor sounding recording, or a poorly mixed recording, mastering can certainly help improve the sound, but you won't achieve truly professional level results unless you have properly addressed each step in the audio production process leading up to the final mastering step.
You can upload any standard stereo audio file (WAV, MP3, M4A, WMA, AIFF) for fast online mastering through CDP Mastering and our system will work on it until it has produced the best mastered results it can, given the sound quality of the track you provided. To help maximize the results, there are some things you can do in the mix to better prepare it for mastering. A list with tips and hints for preparing your music for mastering is provided by Crazy Daisy Mastering on their website - Important Tips for Preparing Your Tracks for Audio Mastering.

1. On the Mastering Order Start Page enter your project name and email address. These are used ONLY to identify your project in our system and send you a download link for the mastered tracks when they are completed. We will not use your email to contact you for other reasons or distribute your email or project name in any fashion.

2. The next page is the File Upload step where you click the "Browse" button to choose your audio files to upload. Allowed types are .wav, .aif, .mp3, .wma, and .m4a files. They must be between 10 seconds and 330 seconds in length. WAV and AIF files must be 16 or 24 bit resolution at any sample rate. MP3, M4A, and WMA files can be any bitrate, but we highly recommend 192kbps or higher for best results. Please wait until all audio files have fully uploaded before proceeding to the next step.

3. On the following step is the File Verification Page where you will see a list of the files you have successfully uploaded, along with some options or a note indicating if there was an issue with any of the files you uploaded. Here you can select which files you want mastered online and you can choose up to two different specific genres of sound style that you would prefer for each mastered track, plus any optional advanced fine-tuning adjustments you wish to select. At the bottom of the list you will see a total price for mastering your selected tracks and an estimated time required to complete all the mastering steps for all tracks. If all looks correct you can proceed to the payment page. Or, if you need to add or replace a file you uploaded with a different version, you can return to step 2 to upload additional files.

4. This is the final step to verify everything before you make the payment and automated mastering begins on the tracks you selected. On this page you will see a final summary of the files that are being mastered and a total price. If all looks correct you can click either the "Pay with PayPal" button to pay using PayPal or you can click one of the credit card logos below to use any major credit card or debit card. You may be required to sign in to PayPal or create a new free PayPal account in order to confirm your identity so you can use your debit or credit card through the PayPal payment processing system we employ. Upon successful payment the site will then immediately begin the mastering process on your songs automatically.

5. On the Mastering In Process page you will receive confirmation that your tracks are in process of mastering. There will also be a link to a page you can go to if you wish to monitor the mastering progress on your project in real time, and a link to download the mastered tracks is provided on this page when the online audio mastering is complete. You can leave the real-time monitoring page at any time without disrupting the mastering process, if you don't want to monitor the progress, and simply wait for your email to arrive at the address you provided in step 1, which will contiain the link to retrieve your mastered tracks. The estimated amount of time required was provided in the time estimate in step 3. Be sure to check your "spam" or "promotions" folder if you haven't seen the email arrive after the estimated time has passed. Please do not refresh or reload the "Mastering In Process" page as it may cause the mastering process to restart from the beginning of the current track in progress, which can cause a delay until you receive your final mastered tracks.

EVERY MASTERED TRACK will be provided with: a Hi-Res .WAV (24 bit, 44.1kHz or 48kHz), a Standard CD Audio .WAV (16 bit, 44.1kHz), and a Hi-Res .MP3 (320kbps) file format for you to download - for each of your chosen genres of sound per track. That's up to 6 different audio files we send you per song! The download link that is emailed to you (and also provided at the end of the process if you are monitoring it in real time) will provide you with individual links to download the Hi-Res .WAV, Standard .WAV, and .MP3 mastered audio files for each track in each of the genres you select for mastering every individual song file you uploaded. You'll also receive a link to download a .ZIP file containing all of your mastered tracks inside.

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Be sure to check out our Questions page or Contact Us if you need more details.