How Long on average to master a track?

i wouldn't want to master my own stuff in an hour. too important to not leave it for a day or two, come back fresh double check it, i don't think its long enough to get 'into' the track, you can prob get it 80% there ('decent'), but you want to squeeze the extra 20% out too i'd have thought! i master my stuff and for others but i don't claim to be a mastering engineer - i tend to 'listen to it everywhere' and give it a week at least, with gaps doing something else. i just don't think one set of ears at one point in time in one listening scenario is reliable enough for such a critical stage tbh.

Online mastering can be fine... but you get what you pay for. Anything below about $50/track would make me suspect. Of course do your homework as anyone worth their salt should have a resume to back up their claims. And really, for mastering clients... I never finish a mastering job in a day. Ever. You need at least two to three to be able to do the work, rest, come back and make final decisions fresh. An hour... hell, you have to listen to the whole record first before you can do anything. So unless it is 5 minutes long.

FWIW I am not sure about pricing as it varies with the content and length of the track but Gateway Mastering & DVD is a local mastering studio here in Portland Maine and I know of several local bands that have their album's mastered by them. They mastered a bunch of well known artists as well like Gun's and Rose's and they do have an online mastering service but you would have to contact them about pricing.

Gateway is Bob Ludwig's place. He is sort of God... and charges accordingly.

He charges per program minute. Seriously.

seems it depends on your definition of 'decent'... someone with experience and a bit of a routine/system going on should give you something 'decent' in that time, but what it won't be is 'time verified' or 100% i.e it'll be a best guess, based on their experience of spending alot longer on stuff in the past. so whether that is good enough is your decision i suppose! ultimately you don't want to screw up your mix (e.g its not a restorative master), so its going to be mostly consolidation/glueing, removing any 'bad' and getting it up to expected vol, which anyone selling a service should provide. you could spend forever attempting to tease out some more 'polish' or making the mix sound as if it were recorded in 1956 etc. but if thats the case, best reopen the project and tweak the mix!

I've sat in on professional mastering sessions and seen a single track mastered in about 45 minutes. When you're not mastering in context of an album it can be done a lot quicker.

Ah, one song? That is a whole other deal. Sure, an hour can work.

If nobody's mentioned him already, Check with Andrew Davenport (or to give him his right honors, Dr Andrew Davenport, BMus(Hons), MA, MMus, PhD.) at Edgeworth Studios, ... he's done work for a good number of REAPERites, including myself, and does a FINE job. Sending/Receiving files done by FTP or YouSendIt or similar file transfer service. Not sure what his availability is recently, he stays pretty busy...but it never hurts to ask. :) Scott

Carl Saff does lots of work for the Tape Op community (so his rates should be very reasonable) and many people speak highly of his work. Couldnt hurt to just drop him a line...