Mastering

While both studios deliver exceptional mastering results, Studio A is regarded as our primary stereo mastering studio, while Studio B is regarded as our primary mixing and mastering studio. We recommend choosing your studio based on your previous experience working with the mastering engineer. If you’re unsure which engineer to choose, simply select Unsure / Next Available from the menu, and we will assign the engineer best suited to your song.

Studio A (Nick Burchall) is Audio Animals primary mastering studio and the one we most often recommend. It features one of the finest mastering chains in the world, built around a truly unique selection of highly sought-after mastering equipment.

Studio B (Paul Ashmore) is Audio Animals primary mixing and mastering studio. Its mastering chain includes some of the industry’s finest digitally recallable mastering equipment, offering a more modern workflow and a contemporary sound.

All orders will be turned around within the time frame selected when placing your order. Turnaround time is based on days the selected engineer works between Monday to Friday. If you have a specific day you need your master back for, please let us know when placing your order.

• 1 Working Day (returned next working day)
• 2-5 Working Days (returned within 2-5 working days)
• 5-7 Working Days (returned within 5-7 working days)

Mastering is the final professional polish that makes your mix truly release ready. It ensures your track sounds great everywhere, whether it’s streaming, playing in the car, or on a hi-fi system. We fine-tune the stereo image, balance the EQ and compression, add just the right amount of loudness without over compressing, and run your music through high end professional mastering equipment. In short, mastering is what makes your song sound its absolute best everywhere it’s heard.

Audio mastering involves several important tasks:

• EQ: Balancing frequencies to ensure a clear, cohesive sound across all playback systems.
• Dynamic Processing: Controlling the track’s dynamics for consistent volume and punch without losing natural feel.
• Stereo Enhancement: Adjusting the stereo image to create a wider and more immersive listening experience.
• Loudness Optimization: Increasing overall volume to industry standards while maintaining clarity and detail.
• Final Quality Check: Ensuring the mastered track translates perfectly on all platforms and playback devices.

By adding + Dolby Atmos Master to your order, you’ll receive a Dolby Atmos ADM master, a binaural mix, and surround re-renders. This means your music can be distributed on platforms like Apple Music, TIDAL, and Amazon Music as a fully 3D immersive experience. Dolby Atmos can be enjoyed using regular headphones, there is no need for a full Atmos speaker setup. The difference compared to stereo is simply mind-blowing.

Dolby Atmos Mastering involves several important tasks:

• Spatial Mixing: Creating a 3D audio landscape so each sound moves naturally in a three dimensional space.
• Binaural Rendering: Delivering a headphone friendly version that mimics the immersive Atmos experience without special equipment.
• Surround Re-renders: Providing multiple surround sound versions so your music is ready for any playback environment.
• Platform Optimisation: Ensuring your master is perfectly tuned for streaming services like Apple Music and TIDAL.

There are a few major benefits of releasing a Dolby Atmos master.

• Superior Sound when compared to a standard stereo master. A Dolby Atmos master can achieve a sound that has more space, depth and is overall more true to life and pleasing to the ear.
• More Royalties from streaming platforms. You will earn a better percentage of royalties from streaming platforms when release a Dolby Atmos master.
• Online Algorithms will favour songs that are released in Dolby Atmos as well as stereo, especially Apple Music that say that the preferred format is Dolby Atmos/Spatial Audio.
• Future Proofed with Dolby Atmos. Dolby Atmos is going to eventually replace stereo on all streaming platforms. By releasing your music now in Dolby Atmos ensures you are future proofed and ready for the inevitable switch.
• Better Chance Of Being Playlisted. By releasing a Dolby Atmos master you will have a far better chance of being playlisted on certain platforms. Being playlisted can make or break a release.

Stem mastering is the process of summing up to 25 stems together and mastering the summed stems across the master bus. The benefit of working in this way is that the engineer has control over each individual stem that is summing to the master bus. Resulting in being able to process and balance each individual stem correctly to get the very best from the song.

The main benefit of stem mastering is that the engineer has full control over each stem when mastering. For instance if the vocals are too loud we are able to decrease the volume without affecting any other stem. As well if the bass is too quiet, instead of using EQ to bring the bass volume up, which in tern brings up the frequency of other sounds in the frequency range, we are able to use gain to increase the bass stem independently of all other sounds in that frequency range.

There is technically no difference. Apple Spatial is what Apple call it and Dolby Atmos is what everyone else calls it. Apple spatial is played back through Apple’s own codec. All other streaming platforms playback using the Dolby Atmos codec.

Yes. We can master music created using AI tools, but we recommend letting us know before submitting your track. AI-generated music can often present different technical challenges to traditionally recorded or produced material, so knowing this in advance allows us to approach the mastering process appropriately.

Depending on how the track has been generated, we may need to pay particular attention to areas such as tonal balance, harshness, dynamics, stereo imaging, low-end control and overall clarity. AI-created audio can sometimes contain unusual artefacts or processing characteristics that benefit from a more considered mastering approach rather than simply treating the track in the same way as a conventional mix.

By telling us beforehand that your track has been created using AI, we can assess it with this in mind and tailor the mastering process to achieve the strongest, most natural and commercially competitive result possible.

By adding + Apple Digital Master to your order, you will receive back both the stereo master as well as the Apple Digital Master. This master can then be released on Apple Music as an official Apple Digital Master that is optimised specifically for Apple Music. All Apple Digital Masters are rendered at 96k giving them Hi Res Apple Digital Master badge on Apple Music.

By adding + Vinyl Master to your order, you will receive back an additional version of your master optimised ready to be pressed to vinyl. This master will be ready to send to your cutting house of choice. It is very important that a master optimised to be pressed to vinyl is used and not a master that is designed for digital distribution.

By adding + Additional Stereo Master to your order, you will receive back all additional mixes mastered through the same mastering chain as the original mix.

• Instrumental
• Acapella (vocal bus only)
• Performance Mix (version with lead vocal removed)
• Radio Edit (additional stems must be supplied)
• Extended Edit (additional stems must be supplied)

By adding + Stereo Mastered Stems to your order, you will receive back all stems provided mastered through the exact same mastering chain as the stereo mix. Mastered stems can be used for film and TV licensing as well as remix purposes and further production.

Orders / payment must be made before work on your song begins. This ensures our engineers, take the necessary time and care required to return you the very best master.

Mastering includes 2 revisions. Mastering revisions give you the peace of mind that the end result is going to be exactly as you want it. On the rare occasion you exceed 2 revisions, you can always purchase more via our revisions and re-runs page.

If you need to change the mix in any way after mastering there is a master re-run fee of £10. This small charge covers the engineers time to recall the mastering chain and re-record the updated master.

It is advised to remove all plugins from your master bus that effect dynamic range. This includes plugins such as compression or limiting. It is best to remove all plugins but we understand that some clients want to leave EQ or saturation active as it is part of their sound. The reason we suggest removing master bus processing is so that we have a mix that has full dynamic range and we are able to compress and limit at the correct stage of the mastering chain.

If work has not yet begun on your song, you can simply get in touch with us and replace the file.

If work has already begun on your song and you need to replace the mix for a new one. Two outcomes will occur.

If the mix is technically the same song and same mix but there is a change resulting in the song needing to be re-run. There is a small charge of £10 for a master re-run to cover the time the engineer must take to re-run your song.

If the mix is completely different or a different song altogether, a new order for mastering will need to be placed. The reason for this is because mastering will need to be started from scratch and the previous master scrapped.

Before sending your song always make sure that the mix is correct and the file you are sending is the mix you intend to be mastered.

Mastering is one of the most important parts of the engineering process of a song. Mastering can make or break a song. Too many artists fall at the final hurdle with poor quality mastering using either digital plugins or guesswork using AI mastering. A professional mastering engineer will ensure your music plays back correctly across all devices. Nothing comes close to a skilled engineer in a 100% accurate room using high quality analogue mastering equipment.

Your mix can be uploaded safely and securely via the upload page here. Bypass any compression / limiting you may have on your master bus before printing your audio ready for mastering.

• File Type: Wav
• Bitrate: 16/24/32bit
• Sample Rate: 44,1kHz – 96kHz
• Headroom: -3db / -6db

It is not ideal but yes we can work with a limited or clipped mix. The approach to mastering a limited mix is similar but requires a very precise approach in order to ensure the song is not over compressed or distorted.

If an mp3 is the highest quality file you have and you are unable to obtain a high quality wav file, we will be able to work with this.

Stereo masters are returned in the following formats, if you require any others, please let us know: 

• 96kHz 24bit wav
• 48kHz 24bit wav
• 44.kHz 24bit wav
• 44.1kHz 16bit wav
• 320kbs 16bit wav

Dolby Atmos masters are returned in the following formats:

• 48kHz 24bit wav ADM
• 96kHz 24bit wav ADM
• 96kHz 24bit wav binaural mix
• 96kHz 24bit wav re-renders
• 768kbs mp4

Yes, if you would like to credit Audio Animals for the mastering of your music you can do so. Please credit Audio Animals Ltd and either Paul Ashmore or Nick Burchall as the mastering engineer. This is not required but is greatly appreciated.