CD Mastering FAQ

Can I send my tracks one at a time for mastering? Absolutely, though do bear in mind if the tracks are destined to appear on the same release that it can be of benefit to master them as a single product in one go. Though in many instances this is not the clients preferred way of working. Most ME's will keep the masters so the previous tracks can be referenced as the overall job proceeds. What are ISRC codes and where do I get them from? In the U.K. officially from here: PPL UK The relevant body differs from country to country but many of my clients have great success (much lowered costs) with CDBaby. You can register your music releases here and request ISRC codes to be sent to you for the mixing services . ISRC codes are required to uniquely identify each track and allow automated royalty payments. They can take up 4 weeks from CD Baby so do this well in advance of your release. I have just paid for a mixing engineer why should I get my music mastered? Well the mix room may not have had optimized acoustics and very high resolution monitors and so a specialized room and accurate monitoring in a mastering studio will be able to address overall tonal issues missed in mixing. (As an example I use PMC IB1 monitors