Radio & TV-Ready Final Masters In All Formats
You've finished your recording project and taken delivery of your final masters. The hardest work is done. Or is it? Now it's time to jump-start your album/single release, ad campaign, and/or online marketing, and you find yourself navigating the dizzying array of audio formats required by each different media outlet you'll be working with.
Radio wants 320Kbps .mp3s, but your webmaster needs 128Kbps .mp3 and .ogg formats for ensured browser compatibility. CDBaby requires 24-bit .wav files, but it looks like iTunes is using a format with the extension .m4a (though you were told they used something called .aiff).
Your panic turns to outright crisis when you discover that customers downloading your songs from some sources are having to type in your album and song titles manually due to missing CD text, or PQ codes, or... HELP!
Audio formats are plentiful and confusing in these days of ever-changing technology. Knowing which formats are needed for which applications can be problematic at best. It becomes even worse if you need to pair your audio with video. And once you figure out which format(s) you need, required bit resolutions and other specifications within each format will vary among media outlets.
Whether your release is aimed toward CD, vinyl, streaming, radio, internet, download, or video, I can help rescue you from the "format jungle". My clients receive their final masters in any format(s) they choose and they don't get taken to the cleaners if they need additional formats or conversions later on.
Compact Disc
CDs are burned from the master .wav files produced during the recording, mixing, and mastering processes. I use Sony CD Architect to create the CD image, complete with all required metadata (properly spelled artist name, song titles, etc.) embedded within the files.
Vinyl
Mastering for vinyl is a tricky and dangerous endeavor. I recall several LPs that were released in the late 70s and early 80s that made the news because the first few hundred-thousand copies manufactured and distributed skipped—in the same song, at the same spot—on virtually every consumer's record player. There are a lot of judgement calls in the LP mastering and pressing process because many variables can cause audible, and sometimes detrimental, effects.
Other formats
Obviously, .mp3 and streaming audio are dominant at the moment and for the foreseeable future. If your material won't be released in physical form (CD or vinyl), then mastering will usually take slightly different turns on the path to optimizing your audio for streaming and/or playback.
Video
If your audio needs to be coupled with (or decoupled from) video, I can help make that process seamless. I am proficient at editing and synchronizing audio and video elements, producing music and audio for videography, and managing formats.
When it comes to producing and converting various audio formats, I've got you covered. I can take the worry out of your recording project, helping you take your sonic vision from concept to fully-mastered perfection, as high and wide as the Texas sky..