About Trutone
Undoubtedly you’ve spent months (or even years?) writing, recording and mixing your songs. Let the mastering pros at Trutone lend a hand….we’ll render a fresh, unbiased prospective to your music. We’re here to hear and when we do, listen to the difference!
Preparing Your Project For Mastering
Documentation:
Please be as clear as possible when submitting your masters, especially if you are not attending the session. Be sure to include a clear, concise, typed track listing. If you are supplying more than one source master, indicate on your track list which source master contains the track /tracks you wish to use and number the source masters accordingly. If there is more than one version of the track, please notate the difference and which one you prefer we use for the final master. For example: "Johnny Be Good" Mix #2 vocal up or Guitar solo +1db. These notes are invaluable. Sometimes long intervals may elapse between recording, mixing and mastering and you may forget the differences between mix #1 and mix #2, or why you chose the particular mix in the first place. If you have specific sequencing ideas, please note them. We suggest you do a mock sequence so that you can hear the way the songs transition from one to the other . When it comes to supplying notes with your project, always err on the side of too much information.
Digital Mixing:
Mixing to a digital format is becoming more popular everyday. More than 50 percent of the projects we work with are recorded in a digital format. Pro Tools files are very popular. If you are mixing on a digital audio workstation, there are a few simple do’s and don’ts to achieve the best results. First, don't normalize your mixes, we prefer that the music not go through any unnecessary processing. Over compression, limiting or excessive volume can degrade the signal and in many cases, cannot be undone. If you want to try some extra processing, make a second pass and submit both versions. Whenever possible, record with a 24 bit resolution.
If you plan to submit high resolution mixes for mastering (24 bit), you must send them as data files. If you burn an audio CD, you will have a maximum resolution of 16 bit. Data files can be encoded on CD discs, uploaded to our FTP site, or you can copy the files to a Firewire drive. Any of these formats will work well as a medium for us to master from and of course if you provide a Firewire drive, we will return it once we have completed your project.
Digital & File Formats:
Broadcast wave files (.WAV), AIFF or SDII files as well as CD audio formats are the most common. To accommodate these various formats we utilize 2 Sonic Solutions HD systems, 2 Sonic USP systems a Pro Tools system as well as BarberBatch file conversion software. If you are utilizing a format not listed, let us know a couple days prior to the session so we can make arrangements to accommodate you.
FTP:
File Transfer Protocol is utilized to transfer data from computer to computer via the web. You are able to securely “upload” files to our server quickly. Within minutes we are able to access your uncompressed files as well as upload files for you to preview. For further information please see our Emastering page.
Sampling Rates:
44.1K, 48K, 88.2K, 96K – 192K (and everything in between), in general the higher the sampling rate, the better. Just remember, the higher your sampling rate the more disc space you will need for your mixes.
Analog Formats:
We accept 1⁄4 inch, 1⁄2 inch and 1 inch tape. We still love working with analog tape utilizing our completely refurbished Ampex ATR-102 tape machine with switchable solid state and vacuum tube front end, as well as our Studer A80, they sound great! If mixing to tape is within your budget, (especially if your working with live drums and guitars) you should consider going this route. As far as recording at 15ips or 30ips, great records have been recorded at both speeds. Please include a full set of tones on at least one of the reels.
If you have an older project that you want re-mastered or need archived, be it full track, 2 track, quarter track or even cassette, we can work with it. In addition, we have the equipment to properly decode Dolby A, Dolby B and DBX Type I formats. A convection oven is available for tape baking if necessary. Keep your tapes stored tails out to prevent print through as well as edge damage.
The Attended Mastering Session:
We always encourage our clients to personally attend the mastering session as it is always preferable for the producer, artist or engineer to have direct interaction and dialog with the mastering engineer.
While each project is different, in general, an album project takes a full 8 -10 hour day, depending on the number of songs, edits, master formats . The more we know about your project prior to the session, the better we can estimate the time frame necessary..
It is extremely important that the client leave the session with a reference copy for approval purposes. Upon receiving a reference approval, we will prepare the final master for replication.
Audio & Forensic Restoration Services
Trutone Inc. utilizes Sonic Solutions NoNoise, the world's premier tool for restoring audio recordings. Sonic's advanced processes isolate and eliminate audio artifacts such as hiss, scratches, hum, mechanical and impulse noise. NoNoise is not a single process or software module, but a set of powerful tools to remove bothersome noise without compromising the program material. NoNoise can be utilized to restore old recordings, remove unwanted noise from field recording and repair audio materials that may have suffered damage.
NoNoise encompasses a number of specific processing technologies including:
* Manual declicking
* Production declicking
* Broadband denoising
* Decrackle
* Complex filtering
Audio artifacts come in many types and every restoration project is unique. As such, each job is individually quoted based upon it's complexity. Please request information.
Archives:
As a service projects are archived for our clients. However, Trutone Mastering Labs is not liable for the safe keeping of files indefinitely. This being the case, please order a backup or file copy of your master.
Q&A Concerning Vinyl Mastering
1. What is the recommended maximum playing time for each record side?
To achieve maximum level on your record, we recommend the following per side lengths: 12” up to 12:00, 10” up to 9:00, and for 7” up to 4:00.
2. 33 1/3 rpm or 45 rpm, which?
45 rpm is the speed of choice if your program is less than 9:00. Since the disc is rotating at a faster speed when cutting at 45 rpm vs. 33 1/3 rpm, the mechanical waveforms imbedded within the record groove are further apart. As such, when a playback stylus is tracking the disc it can extract more detail and information from the record groove and provide more definition in the reproduced sound with less distortion. On the down side, the play time for the side is reduced by 26% due to the faster rotational speed.
3. How should I prepare my source masters?
Please supply tracks in proper sequence to avoid a sequencing charge, i.e., if you have 3 tracks on the A-side and 2 tracks on the B-side, provide your source with cuts 1-3 appearing first and cuts 4 and 5 next. Or you can provide 2 sources, one source with 3 cuts for the A-side and one source with 2 cuts for the B-side. Please provide 2-3 seconds of space between tracks.
Levels and EQ from track to track should be uniform. It is recommended that you do not over compress your music as this causes it to sound “squashed”. Do not use a finalizer or similar device that tends to overemphasize certain frequencies that can cause problems in the transfer to vinyl. If your music contains vocals, we suggest you process it through a De-esser.
4. Should I “master” my tracks before submitting them in to be cut?
It is not necessary to “master” before submitting your tracks. Vinyl records store music mechanically unlike the digitized storage medium of CDs. As such, cutting a loud dynamic record presents many challenges not typical to the conventional recording and mixing process. Trutone’s mastering engineers enjoy decades of experience specific to the analog format. This expertise facilitated by their use of our classic, vintage analog tube compressors, limiters and equalizers, afford our engineers the ability to provide all final EQ and level adjustments as your music is being transferred to the analog master. The result? A rich warm sound that transcends the digital phenomena, indicative of why vinyl remains the medium of choice for promoting and marketing music.
5. What is a reference acetate and why do I need it if I’m getting test pressings anyway?
Reference acetate, dub and dub plates are all terms to describe a record proof. These are aluminum based discs coated with a special lacquer. The reference acetate is very similar to the master lacquer that is used to manufacture your records and is cut on the same lathe. It should be noted that the acetate coating is very soft and is subject to wear far more quickly than a vinyl pressing. As such, sonic evaluations of the reference disc should be made within the first few plays. Unlike digital based storage mediums, an analog record is a mechanical storage medium with very different and unique characteristics. It is important to listen to how your digital source transferred to the analog disc format BEFORE commencing with the record manufacturing process. At this juncture EQ and/or sequence changes can be accomplished at a reasonable cost. If the reference were eliminated and a test pressing used to evaluate the sound, changes would require expensive, time consuming additional steps, including re-cutting of master lacquers, re-electroplating, as well as manufacturing new test pressings.
6. Should I replace my cartridge before playing my reference acetate?
An acetate should NOT be played with a brand new stylus. A minimum of 10 hours of playing time on vinyl records is suggested before playing the acetate. It can be played approximately 5 times before it begins to deteriorate sonically.
