Balance before loudness
A loud master is straightforward. A master that stays clear, with the low end in place and the detail intact, takes longer to learn.
Zeitgeist Mastering
One craft. The finished record.
Professional audio mastering for stereo mixes, stems and vinyl. Nicholas D'Ombrain masters each track himself, and you deal with him directly.
The work
The last decision before the record leaves the room.
Mastering is where tone, level, stereo image and the space between songs are settled for the systems the music will actually meet: club, headphones, radio, hi-fi, the car. Every track is treated on its own terms.
Ears that are not yours
Artists live inside a mix. Mastering is a second, trained hearing of the same material, with the processing to act on it.
A person, not a queue
You deal with the engineer who masters the track. New clients can hear a short trial before committing to the full file.
Rates
One rate for the whole order.
Stereo mastering is priced in euros. The rate that matches the number of tracks applies to every track. Payment terms, and the work that sits outside this card, are on the services page.
01
1 trackAbout A$110. That Australian figure is a guide at the planning rate, not a checkout price.
€69
02
2–4 tracks€65 on every track. Two tracks are €130. Three are €195.
€65
03
5 or more€62 on every track. Five tracks are €310. Ten are €620.
€62
04
Other workRestoration, stem mastering and a full mix. Separate from this stereo rate.
Making a loud master is easy. Making it sound tight and defined is the work.
How an order works
From premaster to delivery.
Send the file
Export at the session’s sample rate and bit depth, peaking between −6 and −3 dBFS. New clients can ask for a free trial snippet first.
We master it
Analysis, equalisation, dynamics, stereo balance and the last polish. If a decision needs you, we write.
You receive it
Standard delivery is a 16-bit / 44.1 kHz WAV and a 320 kbps MP3. 24-bit, DDP and vinyl-oriented files are available when you need them.
Three to five days
That is the usual turnaround for a single. Albums take longer. Work begins once payment has been received and confirmed.
The engineer
Nicholas D'Ombrain
Nicholas has worked in sound since 1996, from theatre and broadcast in Melbourne to studio work in London and mastering in Berlin. Zeitgeist Mastering is based in Australia, working with artists and producers worldwide.
The approach is sympathetic to the music already made. Dynamics can be kept, or the master can sit at a contemporary level if that is what the release needs. The point is that the choice is deliberate.
Clients
Music that has already been in the room.
- Paul Hartnoll (Orbital)
- Alex Smoke
- Sascha Braemer
- Slagsmålsklubben
- Lianne Hall
- Philip Bader
- Javier Logares
- Dominik Vaillant
- Sarp Yilmaz
- Eric Volta
Listening
Hear the difference, then decide.
These examples live on the Zeitgeist SoundCloud. Streaming compresses them. If you are comparing a master seriously, download the files from SoundCloud rather than judging the stream alone.
“Everything I was hoping for. Really crisp and shiny sound. I like it a lot.”
If the player does not load, the examples are on soundcloud.com/zeitgeist-mastering.
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