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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Feb 2010
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Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 681 |
Did anyone check into Cross fire recording? I did and would like input to anyone else who might have checked this out........thanks
Critter
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What are you considering having them do for you?
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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"Mastering" for $29.99 per song? What's not to like? Obviously top notch. 
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Feb 2010
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Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
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Posts: 681 |
I sent him an e-mail with my soundcloud songs, he replied that he liked two of the songs and would master them as said above for free. I did a dropbox on the two and he confirmed he got them. Later on he had questions on the format of the wavs, did I use a click track etc. After I explained the process of realtracks etc. he later sent an e-mail stating that he had sent the last e-mail to me by mistake. He said he would keep me posted on the songs when he got to them, that was three days ago, I think once he realized these weren't true band tracks he lost interest. I will keep you posted to any other updates. It would be interesting to see what he would have come up with for the songs, too good to be true I guess...........
Critter
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Your BIAB stuff is probably beneath him. After all, he built a "studio" next to his garage, and he has some Blue mics!
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Your BIAB stuff is probably beneath him. After all, he built a "studio" next to his garage, and he has some Blue mics! Bwahahahahahaha..... Yup. But hey, for $30 a pop mastering..... don't expect too much other than someone throwing Ozone on it and calling it done. Which..... BTW, is NOT mastering. My recommendation: Buy Ozone and forget about that clown.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 06/02/15 02:09 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Or, you could just bite the bullet and hire Gavin. https://lurssenmastering.com/home
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 681
Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
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I thought for free what the heck. I have Nectar 2, Alloy 2, and Ozone 6, but again why not see what this guys got.......will probably never know....LOL
Critter
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You get what you pay for in most instances. NOTE..... what is being overlooked in this discussion is that you don't generally "master" a single song. Mastering as I understand it is a process done to multiple songs which are all slated to go onto a singe CD project so that they all sound similar with respects to levels, compression and EQ. For clarification.... when I used the word "mastering" here, I'm referring to small "m" mastering which isn't really mastering at all but is simply what I call "sweetening the mix". I saw somewhere, someone posted a link to some sort of automated "mastering" on the net for free... "Guaranteed to make your song sound professional".... so out of curiosity, I submitted a tune, raw from the DAW with my plugs shut off. The so-called mastering was completed in mere seconds and the MP3 was available for me to hear. It was not even close to sounding as good as my work. With a basic Ozone pre-set and no tweeking, you can get as close or closer than some on the folks who think they're mastering engineers on the internet. Assuming $30 a song.... and a reasonable base rate of $60/hr intended income level.... that gives them 30 minutes total to work on mastering your song. That time includes downloading the song, loading it into the DAW, applying the mastering effects, perhaps 3 to 4 plays of the song to tweek the FX, and exporting it and uploading the results to you. That's a lot of stuff to do in 30 minutes. Folks who are really good at "mastering" could probably do it in that short time span, but those guys are being paid more than that to work in a professional mastering house. A more reasonable expectation would be $120 for mastering with as much time as is needed to do the job right. It's possible to get a decent job done in under 2 hrs total. If I was planning on going into that business, I would factor a minimum of at least 1 hour to start with and have contingencies for overtime in half hr increments. Look up the album mastering prices at the professional mastering houses. Price list from a decent mastering house.... not the best in the business, but good: http://www.discmakers.com/soundlab/pricing.asp
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Critter - According to his site, he has: “Izotope Ozone 4 Izotope Alloy” And you said: “I have Nectar 2, Alloy 2, and Ozone 6...” YOU have more current plugs than HE does, and he doesn't even have Nectar! And he lists the “BBE Mastering Suite”???? Really?
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Critter - According to his site, he has: “Izotope Ozone 4 Izotope Alloy” And you said: “I have Nectar 2, Alloy 2, and Ozone 6...” YOU have more current plugs than HE does, and he doesn't even have Nectar! And he lists the “BBE Mastering Suite”???? Really? In other words..... trust yourself and do it yourself. Post the results in the showcase and you can get the opinion and advice from your colleagues here. We can help you dial in a good mix/mastering/sweetening job.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 22,634
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I kinda disagree with the above post. I'm not trying to be confrontational, or arrogant, just offering another point of view.
Someone with good ears (and monitoring) may indeed be able to do a better job with old plugins/equipment than someone with lesser experience would with all the new bells and whistles.
I'd likely rather have Bob Ludwig master it on an old lacking system than have 'Joe' do it with a brand new custom built system.
It's not the tools, but the result that matters.
How much value that has, compared to cost, is an individual decision.
"Free" does seem to cause the 'why not' approach, but then judging the value become biased.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 10,917
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Posts: 10,917 |
I kinda disagree with the above post. I'm not trying to be confrontational, or arrogant, just offering another point of view.
Someone with good ears (and monitoring) may indeed be able to do a better job with old plugins/equipment than someone with lesser experience would with all the new bells and whistles.
I'd likely rather have Bob Ludwig master it on an old lacking system than have 'Joe' do it with a brand new custom built system.
It's not the tools, but the result that matters.
How much value that has, compared to cost, is an individual decision.
"Free" does seem to cause the 'why not' approach, but then judging the value become biased.
I agree... it's not the gear, it's the ears.... and I didn't intend to imply that the gear was the main factor. Like the old guitarist who walks in with a beatup guitar and a ratty old tube amp from the 50's that's falling apart, but can get the sweetest tone ever heard while the guy with the new Gibson and state of the art modeling amp has a squanky tone. I was saying that the OP has better gear than the "commercial guy"......and should take the time to learn to use it properly. Other folks with good ears can help him get there.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: May 2000
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Now that post I agree with. 
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 681
Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 681 |
Now with the census in is anyone interested in mastering the two songs he thought were good enough for him? If so let me know. They are still in my dropbox, which I never used before, but for gits and giggles let me know...........Thanks
Critter
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Special Offers Extended Until May 31st!
Good news- we've extended our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® special offers until May 31, 2026!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac - Special Offers End at 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th, 2026!
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202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
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Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
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-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 12 new RealStyles.
- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
- Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
- Playable RealTracks Set 5
- RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
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- MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
- Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
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Supercharge your Band-in-a-Box today with XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAK Sets!
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