What do I send?
The mix, as you finished it
Send the final mix exactly as it is finished — every tool, every sound, every treatment rendered into it. A loud mix is not a problem. Use whatever you want on your mix bus to get where you were going; that is your record, and it is what I am working from.
No headroom is needed. Leaving the output quiet is not a favour: at a fixed bit depth it costs resolution.
Export at 32-bit float. It is the one recommendation worth insisting on — it removes overload and loss as a category of problem, so nothing has to be reconstructed later.
What each service needs from you
Stereo mastering
- One stereo file per song.
- Plus one optional second render — most often the limited and non-limited versions of the same mix.
- A mastered preview is welcome if there is a specific direction you want to show me.
Stem mastering
- Five stereo groups at most, per song.
- Plus one stereo mix reference, so the stems can be checked against the record you already approved.
Mixing
- Project files — any DAW — or rendered raw audio: all files the same length, synced from the same start point, not normalised.
- Plus a rough mix or premix, so the intent is on the table from the first listen.
Vinyl pre-mastering
- Your final digital master — not a rough mix, and not a “vinyl-safe” version prepared in advance.
- The running order split into sides, with a running time for each. This has to be settled before the pre-master is made: it sets the level the record can be cut at. See sides and why they decide the sound.
- The format and speed you are cutting — 12″ at 33⅓ or 45, or 7″ — and the plant, if it is already chosen.
DDP
- ISRC codes, one per track, and the exact titles as they should appear.
- The final running order, and the gaps if you want them set a particular way.
Naming and organisation
One folder per release. Track number, artist, title — 01 Artist — Title.wav. Version markers in the filename where they matter: (no limiter), (radio edit), (instrumental).
The metadata handover
For vinyl and DDP this is a formal hand-off, not a detail, because both end in a physical object that cannot be corrected afterwards. A pressing with a misspelled title is a pressing. Send it as one written list, in one place, and treat it as final:
- Album title, exactly as it should appear — capitalisation, accents, punctuation and all.
- Track titles, in the same spirit. Featured artists written the way you want them printed.
- Track order, numbered — and for vinyl, divided into sides with a running time for each.
- ISRC per track, and the catalogue number, barcode/UPC, and the ℗ and © lines where the release carries them.
- For vinyl specifically: which side is A and which is B, the matrix or catalogue number, and any runout etching the artist wants in the dead wax. The plant asks for all three, and they are the three nobody remembers until the cut is booked.
- Anything else that must be printed or embedded: composer and publisher credits, a CD-text spelling that differs from the sleeve, or a track that must not be gapped away from the one before it.
I check what arrives against what is in the files and come back on anything that disagrees.
Nothing reaches a plant without your written sign-off. For a DDP that means the finished table comes back to you to approve; for vinyl it means the side split, the timings and the metadata above. Replication and cutting both wait on that, because past that point an error is an object rather than an email.
Anything else the release needs
- Reference tracks, if you have them. One or two is more useful than ten.
- Notes on anything deliberate that might read as a fault: a clipped snare that is meant to be there, an intentionally narrow section, a sudden drop.
How to send it. A Dropbox, WeTransfer or Drive link is fine, and a private link is fine. There is no portal to sign up for.
What do I get back?
Every release is delivered as one master folder, with the sample rate and bit depth written into each filename so nothing is ambiguous a year later.
Included in the price
There is one master. Every format below carries it at the same level — nothing is turned down to a streaming platform’s target. What differs between the formats is technical: resolution, and the true-peak headroom each one needs.
Every master ships with all of these. There is no tier where you get fewer.
| ✓ | Deliverable | Resolution | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ✓ | WAV | 24-bit, source sample rate | The master itself, at the rate it was made at. This is also what goes to streaming. |
| ✓ | WAV | 16-bit / 44.1 kHz | CD resolution. |
| ✓ | FLAC | lossless | Distribution and download stores. |
| ✓ | MP3 | 320 kbps | Promo, press, quick reference. |
| ✓ | YouTube version | true-peak safe | The same master with about a decibel more headroom, so the platform’s encoder has room to work. |
| ✓ | DDP + CD-text | replication package | Sent to you for approval before it reaches a plant. |
Charged separately
Not upsells — genuinely separate work, and each is quoted before it is done.
| Extra | What it is | How it is charged |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl pre-master | The record prepared and sequenced per side for your cutting engineer | Per side |
| Instrumental and a cappella prints | Vocal-free and vocal-only versions for sync, live use and radio edits | Per track |
| Stems printed back out | A stem-mastering or mixing client wanting the individual groups returned after the fact | Hourly |
| Recall after sign-off | Reopening a finished project for a later edit | Hourly |
How do revisions work?
Revision rounds are part of the work, not an extra line on an invoice.
A revision is a corrective adjustment inside the creative direction already agreed. New or replacement mixes, a change of arrangement, a re-recorded part or a change of direction are new work, not a revision — they restart the round, and on a fixed-scope project they may affect the schedule.
How long does it take?
Turnaround is agreed per project, in writing, before work starts. New or replacement material resets the clock: every replaced file adds time, because the reference the master was built against has changed.