Have a question? Take a scroll below, and click on any question to expand. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Unattended singles (1 song) are $75/each, and a 7inch (or 2 songs) is $135. Anything longer than two songs is billed at the studio hourly rate of $90/hr. All attended sessions are billed at $90/hr. Prices are plus tax where applicable.
Your cost is based on the amount of time we spend working on your album. For albums recorded and mixed in a consistent fashion, a typical full-length (40-50 minutes) takes a full day, typically between 6 to 8 hours. An EP of 20-30 minutes usually runs about 4to 6 hours. This is all dependent on the quality and consistency of your mixes, any problems we encounter, etc. Recordings mixed at multiple facilities and compilations often require more work and can take longer.
The best way to get an accurate price quote is to submit your mixes for a free evaluation. We can also provide a free mastering sample for one track so that you can hear what we can offer and help you decide if we are the right studio for your project.
When you contact us to schedule a session, we will give you a specific date for your project. If you are not attending your session, you can expect to be able to download the first draft of your master at the end of that same day. Touchups, if necessary, are included at no additional cost, however studio time does apply if you send new mix files after the initial mastering session/
All standard production files are included in our price at no additional cost. This includes web ready standard and high resolution ADM compliant WAV files, DDP for CD manufacturing, and vinyl-ready WAV files.
Mastering is your final opportunity to examine your project holistically and fine-tune it for your intended audience. It helps your album sound balanced from start to finish, and to translate musically and predictably into any listening environment.
Mastering can help address any shortcomings in your mixes, augment their strengths, as well as allow for edits, sequencing, crossfades, add clarity and definition, set your overall volume levels to play properly alongside other commercially produced recordings, and make full use of the sonic resolution available on your final medium, be it streaming CD, vinyl, film, etc. Mastering provides the "glue" and vision that turns a collection of songs into an album; a balanced listening experience that feels right from beginning to end.
Your tracks will be processed through a combination of our analog and digital outboard tools, and then sequenced and finalized at high resolution using Magix Sequoia.
We prefer to receive mixes as 24 bit data files (WAV or AIF, 44.1 to 96 kHz), or on 1/4" or 1/2" tape (15-30 IPS)
If you have instrumentals, radio edits or alternate versions that require mastering, please include them at the same time as your main mixes.
If you are attending the session, our preference is that you bring the files on a USB memory key. We can work from data CDR's & DVDR's, audio cd, DAT, minidisc, cassette, vinyl records, or any device with analog, S/PDIF, AES, lightpipe, USB, or firewire connectivity.
Please do not up or downsample your current file format if you are already working in the digital domain, provide your mixes at whatever sample rate you've been working with. We recommend you bounce your mixes to 24 bit files even if you've been recording or editing with 16 bit sources.
If you only have an audio CD to work with and are going to extract (rip) your files yourself, please use either Max (for Mac) or Exact Audio Copy (for PC) to ensure you get a high quality copy.
Please also complete this spreadsheet and email it ahead or bring it to your session.
ISRC codes and catalog numbers are not required for mastering, but please include them if you have them.
There are two means of storing and sharing CD information ("metadata"), and they are often misunderstood and confused with one another.
CD TEXT is information encoded at the header (data portion) of an audio CD that can be used to store basic information such as artist, album title, song titles, and ISRC codes. This information is used only by the very small number of players that are cd text enabled -- generally speaking this is for car stereos and home stereo components that have an LCD display built into them. CD TEXT is not used by computers or iTunes. It is definitely not essential to include CD TEXT on your master -- if you are not 100% certain of how you want your song titles to appear, we recommend against encoding CD TEXT.
The CDDB (sometimes referred to as the Gracenote database) is an internet-based database that collects and distributes information about CD's. This is the information that iTunes and other software players see. It is a user-updated database, it is your responsibility to see that the correct information is provided. Generally speaking, if you enter the information into iTunes yourself (or another software program that has an "upload to the CDDB" option), everything will appear as you intend it to, and this information will be shared with other users of the database. It can include much more information than artist / album / title data.
Preparing your album for vinyl is a multi-stage process. We will provide you with everything you need to start vinyl production, which begins with having lacquers or direct metal masters cut. From here one requires electroplating (for lacquers), mother masters, stampers, etc. All of this is typically handled by the vinyl manufacturer. We can help you find the right vinyl manufacturer for your job, and are also happy to audition test pressings at no charge.
Tape layback involves printing your mixes to analog tape, which naturally imparts EQ and compression characteristics that can greatly complement some recordings. Bouncing to tape is a great way to get things loud, and a perfect antidote to that "digital" brittleness that can affect tracks recorded and mixed entirely within a computer DAW ("in the box".) We can offer layback to 1/4" and 1/2" tape at 15 or 30 IPS. The most economical and effective strategy is to use 1/4" @ 15 ips, which also imparts the most extreme tape characteristics (which is usually what we are looking for), and sounds incredible on our completely rebuilt ATR102 recorder. Extra fees apply for time and materials.
Grey Market Mastering has been owned and operated by Harris Newman since 1997. He has mastered over four thousand albums and EP's along with innumerable singles. The studio is located in a building shared with the Hotel2tango recording studio and Constellation records.
Ryan Morey worked out of the Grey Market Studio from 2006-2023, he now operates his own studio, you can reach him at www.ryanmoreymastering.com.
We are happy to offer a free mastering sample for one track so that you can hear what we can offer you, and decide if we are the right studio for your project.
Please send us your mix (stereo WAV or AIF) via gmm.wetransfer.com (make sure to include your email address and the name of your project).
We will send you a no risk, no obligation master of your track. This will let you hear the full potential of your song and let you hear what Grey Market Mastering can do for you.
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