House · tech house · deep house
House music mastering.
House lives in the groove, and a master can tighten it or flatten it. Thomas makes house himself and masters it the way he finishes his own records: the swing intact, the kick and the bassline locked, the vocal inside the track.
Where house masters go wrong
- Too much limiting. Push a house record too hard and the swing goes first. The groove sits in small differences in level between hits, and heavy limiting irons them out.
- A kick and a bassline fighting for the same space. On a club system it sounds like mud; on headphones it sounds thin.
- A bright master that tires the room. Hats and shakers drive house. Make them too bright and the record gets tiring by the second drop.
By style
- Deep house: warmth and space. Rounded low end, a soft top, the pads given room.
- Tech house: punch and drive. A tight kick, a bassline with bite, and enough level to stand next to the tracks it gets mixed with.
- Vocal and soulful house: the vocal is the record. It stays clear and forward without the track losing its weight.
- Afro-influenced house: percussion layered for depth, with room around every hit. Electronic mastering covers Afro house in more detail.
What you get
- A 24-bit WAV master at your session's sample rate
- A master for streaming, and a vinyl premaster if you're pressing
- A short note on the mix: what worked, and anything worth fixing on the next one
Prices
A$150 a track. A$ prices include GST. Stem mastering and EP rates are on the pricing page.