We offer the following. High-end stereo mastering for CD, vinyl and digital formats (e.g. Mastered for iTunes) Remastering & Audio restoration Click here to order.

The quick answer is both. However, analog or digital does NOT mean mastering for digital or analog media. when we speak of analog mastering we mean the signal passes our analog gear. the lather so " digital " means your song is digitally mastered. We yet have to find a song that does not pass true any of our gear, even the very best emulation do still not match the sonic quality of high-end analog gear. At Full scale mastering we do not offer options for either one or the other. we simply use whatever the song asks for. Both analog and digital have there strong points and for that reason we work hybrid. sound is always context driven, every song needs to be approached differently. Click here to order.

Please use one of the well known upload services (WeTransfer, Dropbox etc.) For multiple songs ( album /Ep ) its advisable to Zip/RaR them before uploading. Not only for quicker up/download but most importantly for one extra layer of quality control, the actual zipping of the files will be monitored on data errors, therefore placing your album/songs in such container before uploading avoids any random upload/download issues along the way. Check the start and tail of your song after rendering. Sometimes in a plug-in intensive project, the computer can't keep up with the latency that the plugins are creating. Your DAW may miss the first beat because it's trying to process all the plugins. It's good practice to leave a few seconds of silence before the song begins and after the last note fades out. Simply render a few seconds more when there are spatial effects that fade out. ​ Check for pops, clicks ,distortion.... Don't skip on this part, its sometimes hard to notice before mastering but pretty noticeable after. its not rare that your computer says no :) when rendering, all kind of weird glitches can happen. check it on headphones before you send them over. Masterbus processing. ​ Turn off any Compressors and limiters from the masterbus. ( Compression is not that big of a deal) in a somewhat minimal arranged production compression its often part of the sound you created. if that's the case then leave the compression on. Limiters are advised to leave off/bypassed. Ozone, waves L2, Maximizer, are some of the more common ones. It makes sense to listen true a limiter when you reference your mix to commercial songs because the loudness is similar, but when the time comes to send the mix, remove any. However, Feel free to send a version of your mix with the plugins on so i can hear the way you’ve been hearing it. ​ ​Don't go over zero on the Masterbus meter. Leave headroom, basically meaning don't let the masterbus meters go over digital zero. The amount Doesn't really matter. If this confuses you, feel free to get in Contact first. Most digital audio workstations work in 32Bit float internally, so productions made completely in the box are often save from Digital digital clipping. however there are still a lot of things that can go wrong pushing the volume up over digital zero. for the sake of simplicity its very good practice to leave some headroom. and this goes for anything related to audio production, not just mastering. ​ Send all Metadata if you have any. ​ Metadata is all the data you want to be written into your file. If you are new to the world of mastering and just exploring what its all about ,feel free to send the crazy name you came up with after headbanging for 6 hours straight on a Saturday night :) (If just for demo purposes you can always change the name of the song later yourself) You can fill in the form for all data you want to add in the upload page. Send the album name, artist name, track titles, and sequence (order of tracks) exactly how you want them spelled and capitalized. ISRC Codes if you have any. ​ Click here to order.

To become an official "mastered for iTunes" certified engineer, you need to complete certain requirements set by Apple and obtain approval from their team. Full Scale Mastering is officially recognized and certified mastering studio for Apple, meaning they were approved to deliver high-quality, optimized audio content for distribution across Apple Music, iTunes, and other platforms within the company's ecosystem. To qualify for Apple Digital Masters certification, your submitted track must meet certain technical specifications: Bit Depth: At least 24 bits Sample Rate: At least 44.1 kHz It is essential to maintain these parameters without altering them. During the mastering process, the sound engineer will evaluate the final output using the latest plugin technology to convert the material into the AAC format. They will closely inspect the mix for any issues that could compromise its integrity, such as clip distortion or other artifacts. This thorough evaluation ensures that your music will achieve optimal quality when played on Apple platforms, meriting the prestigious Apple Digital Masters badge.

CD Text is different than what you see when you load a CD into iTunes and the information automagically loads. CD Text is stored on the physical CD for the purpose of displaying album information in compatible CD players. But the information that shows up in iTunes is pulled from online databases, like CDDB or Gracenote. We handle CD Text here in mastering but this online information can be submitted by anyone using iTunes or any equivalent program supporting submissions to online databases. We recommend you take a CD that you get back from replication, insert it into the CD drive in your computer, and then with iTunes, tag the album exactly the way you want it to appear for others. Choose “Submit CD Track Names” from the advanced menu and this ensures you are the first to submit the info to the online database so the information will appear for everyone just the way you intended it.

Often used for live recodings,but there are many situations you could need restoring audio for. For instance, You nailed your focal recording but you forgot to turn of the Air-conditioning ? that buzzing windy sound can often be deleted. But Pops,clicks,ground loops ac power noises and even wow and flutter can be addressed. Click here to order.

Its always possible to go back and do adjustments when necessary. A revision is always based on the record you send the first time. Sometimes mastering can bring stuff into the spotlight that you did not noticed before, it can also happen that you want to add stuff to your mix. if that's the case, a complete new master is often needed and will be charged as such. you should contact me to find a solution if fixing the mix is what your after.

The International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) is a twelve-digit digital code (Example: DEA239810012) for a recording, for example, a CD title, which can be included in the sub code during the mastering process. The ISRC gives each recording a unique identifier code which is used by record companies, publishers and distributors for cataloguing and managing royalties. This is important for the identification of titles on radio and TV as well as for streaming services. In mastering, we can embed your ISRC’s into the DDP master as well as your Wave files. You can get your codes by applying here https://usisrc.org any additional info HERE

The DDP image ( Disc Discription Protocol is a standard format for the transfer of master data to the pressing plant. With the help of digital checksums it ensures that the files that are send and used perfectly match the original data in terms of bit size.

There is no specific requirement as to how much headroom there should be in your files. With 24-bit files, it could be -12dBFS or it could be hitting just below 0dBFS. What we do ask for, is that your peaks haven’t exceeded 0dBFS in your DAW and thus been clipped off. When in doubt, give yourself at least a few dB above the highest peak in the song. Alternatively, you can avoid clipping altogether by printing your mixes at 32-bit with no dither. When printing 32-bit mixes, we still recommend adhering to proper gain staging and to avoid mixes with peaks above 0dBFS, but this bit-rate does provide protection against errant clipping. Avoid sending songs that have been brick wall limited unless it’s a reference mix. This limits (pun intended) what we can accomplish. In mastering, we can get it just as loud, and often much louder while retaining more punch and transient clarity. Note, that’s not to say you should remove everything on the main output, just the final limiter. If there are plug-ins that you feel contribute to the songs character and feel, by all means leave those there. These can include compressors, EQ’s, harmonic tools, etc. If you mixed into a limiter or clipper, you can also send that as a reference mix so we have an idea of the loudness you were shooting for.

Please supply your files in their native sample rate. Don’t upsample or downsample them. We prefer to work with 24-bit or 32-bit files, but we accept any combination of bit and sample rates, and virtually any file type, though Wave and AIFF are the most common. ( No MP3 ) Before sending, its advisable to compress the files to ZIP or RAR format. This ensures that transmission errors are detected immediately by the zip program of choice . WinZip and 7zip are 2 examples.

Please include fade-out times if you have a specific requirement, otherwise we will use our own discretion when truncating and adding fades to the beginnings and ends of files. If you’ve already done the fades and/or trimmed the files, let us know and we’ll preserve them.

Yes please! It’s helpful if you can point out anything specific about the songs you’d like addressed that you couldn’t accomplish in the mixing stage. Include these in the track-notes field located on the booking form.

This covers distribution/aggregation services like, TuneCore, DistroKid, CD Baby, Indigoboom, Record Union, etc., and streaming platforms such as Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, and TIDAL. Currently, the safest format to use for digital distribution, aggregators, and streaming is a 24-bit 44.1kHz Wave file. Most platforms say they accept any number of sample and bit rate combinations, However what is not clear is how they are converting higher sample rates down to the streaming standard of 44.1kHz. Here @ FSM , we use one of the best sample rate conversion currently available, and this will ensure your streaming masters sound their absolute best. Use the supplied 24-bit 44.1kHz master for these services.( except for CD Baby, on the day of writing they only accept 16-bit 44.1Khz masters. If you’ve supplied your mixes at higher resolutions we’ll also provide a set of masters at their original bit-depth and sample-rate for archival, and for anywhere that supports high-res audio such as Amazon HD, Apple Digital Masters™, and Bandcamp.

YouTube currently streams everything at 44.1kHz, so if you’re uploading just audio, it’s best to upload a 24-bit 44.1kHz file to avoid further sample-rate conversion. However, if you’re uploading a music video, which are commonly created at 48kHz, we’ll supply a 24-bit 48kHz master for the video editor.

For Bandcamp, use our supplied 24-bit Waves, in their native sample rate. This is an opportunity to use higher sample-rates if you worked at a rate higher than 44.1kHz to make your music.

Like all streaming services, SoundCloud uses a lossy compression algorithm for its streaming audio that has the potential to create audible distortion and crackling during playback. If you plan on uploading your masters to SoundCloud, we can prepare a special set of files to ensure you’re getting the highest-fidelity that is distortion free. Like ADM (MFiT), these masters may be slightly lower in overall level.

If you’re selling and streaming your music on iTunes and Apple Music and would like to take advantage of Apple’s optimized Apple Digital Master format, you’ll need to supply us with 24-bit mixes. Ideally, the sample rates should also be higher than the standard 44.1kHz with 96kHz being preferred, but currently, only the 24-bit specification is mandatory. We’ll retain this high resolution through mastering, and carefully prepare the masters according to the Apple Digital Masters specification. Masters created for this format can be up to 1-2dB lower in volume to account for inter-sample-peaks (ISP’s) and clipping which can become distortion during playback. Put simply, files prepared in the Apple Digital Masters format will play distortion-free, providing the end-listener the highest fidelity in a lossy format.

Our vinyl optimized masters have all the dynamics, color, and equalization processing of the digital & streaming formats, but we typically back off on the final limiting to allow more transient clarity and punch. This gives your record more life and dimensionality. It’s also possible we’ll get more aggressive on sibilance and excessive high-end as these can end up as distortion on the record. And be careful with excessively wide low-frequencies, as these will often cause cutting issues. We’ll analyze and check your mixes for that during the mastering process, and if we find it to be problematic, we may ask you to revisit the mix and make corrections there. Always get a test-pressing so you can hear exactly how the record will sound before you’ve had a full order pressed. This can be an opportunity to revisit the mastering or lacquer cutting to correct issues that may not be apparent until we near the end of the process.

Cassette masters are supplied as 16-bit files, one for each side of the cassette. If your duplicator/replicator can accept 24-bit files, let us know and we’ll provide them.

CD masters are supplied in the DDP format. This is a folder of files delivered as a single compressed Zip file. Before sending to your replicator, you’ll use the included DDP player (PC & Mac) to see and hear the CD exactly as it’s going to be once manufactured. You can even use the player to burn reference discs (Note, these discs should not be sent in for replication) as well as export individual 16-bit Wave files. Check all the song titles, album title, artist name, ISRC’s, and UPC for accuracy. If everything is perfect, you can send the original zipped DDP folder to any CD manufacturer of your choice and they’ll be able to replicate perfectly from it.