Two steps, about three minutes. Tell me who you are, then send your files. I’ll come back to you within 2 business days.
Want to hear the chain before you send anything? There’s a level-matched before and after on the Process page.
Send a track. Hear it mastered. Then decide.
Nobody should spend money on mastering based on someone else’s before-and-after. Send one track from your record and you’ll get it back mastered, at no charge.
How the free sample works
- You’ll get back a mastered excerpt — customarily 30 to 45 seconds, though sometimes more if the track makes more sense that way.
- It costs nothing and obligates neither of us to anything.
- It’s yours to keep and listen to. Play it for the band, play it in the car, A/B it against anything you like.
- The one restriction: sample files aren’t cleared for commercial release, distribution, or public posting. Releasing a record needs the full master, and the full master needs a paid project.
Rates
| Release | Rate |
|---|---|
| Single — one track | $110 |
| EP — 2 to 5 tracks | $90 per track |
| Album — 6 or more tracks | $700 flat |
All prices in US dollars, and inclusive of any applicable sales tax — the number you’re quoted is the number you pay. Clients accepted worldwide.
What’s included at those rates
- Every mastered track delivered in three formats — production master, distribution master, and MP3 reference. Full deliverable list →
- DDP image set with PQ sheet, at no extra charge, if you’re manufacturing physical CDs. Some rooms bill this separately. This one doesn’t.
- Vinyl at no extra charge — the standard master is built to hold up on vinyl and is supplied to your cutting engineer as-is. Only a dedicated vinyl pre-master, where the plant or the release specifically calls for one, is quoted separately. What that involves →
- Two rounds of revisions per track.
When you’ll get a custom quote instead
The published rates cover standard scope. Some projects get priced individually — long records, expedited or fixed-deadline turnaround, material that needs remedial work beyond ordinary mastering, stem mastering, alternate versions or sequences, and multi-release or label engagements. Sometimes a custom quote comes in under the published rate. Either way, you’ll see the number before anything starts.
Turnaround
| Single | 2-3 business days |
| EP | 5–8 business days |
| Album | 10–14 business days |
Every quote carries a turnaround estimate for that specific project, made in good faith. If a timeline moves, you’ll hear about it from me rather than wondering. Build buffer time before your distribution deadline anyway — that’s good practice with any mastering engineer, including this one.
How a paid project runs
- Written quote first. Scope, price, turnaround, agreed by email before any work starts. The accepted quote governs the project.
- You send the mixes. 24-bit WAV or AIFF at your session’s native sample rate, roughly −6 dB of headroom, no limiter on the mix bus. Full input specs and file naming → For a sequenced release I’ll also need titles, running order, and codes. What’s required →
- You get a preview. This is your chance to confirm the master matches what was agreed. Notes on a preview aren’t a revision round and won’t be actioned before payment — but if the preview genuinely misses the agreed scope, say so in writing before you pay and it gets corrected or the engagement gets cancelled.
- You pay. Payment in full before the final masters are released, unless we’ve agreed otherwise in writing.
- Final masters delivered. Download link, live for 30 days.
- Revisions open. Two rounds per track, included, starting from delivery.
Revisions in detail
- Two rounds per track, at no extra charge, available once the project is paid and the final masters are delivered.
- Request them within 30 days of delivery. After that window a request may be treated as a new project.
- A revision is an adjustment to the existing master — level, tone, sequencing, spacing.
- A new or altered mix file is not a revision. That’s a remaster, and it’s quoted at the time. This isn’t a technicality: a different mix means starting the work over.
- Silence counts as approval. Delivery is deemed accepted when you approve it in writing, or 14 days after final masters are delivered without a written objection, whichever comes first. Your two revision rounds still stand for the full 30 days regardless — but if something is wrong, don’t sit on it.
Payment, deposits, and refunds
Payment by PayPal invoice or Venmo business profile — Venmo payments need the project name in the note. Venmo is US accounts only; international clients pay by PayPal invoice. Invoices unpaid after 30 days may accrue a late charge.
Album-length projects may require a deposit of up to 50% before work begins, and may require payment by PayPal invoice.
Read this part before you pay a deposit:
- You can cancel any time before work begins and get the full deposit back.
- Once work has begun, the deposit is non-refundable. Mastering is custom work performed to your specification — it can’t be resold or recovered.
- Once final masters are delivered, all fees are non-refundable.
- Mastering involves subjective judgment. Not liking the artistic result isn’t grounds for a refund — your remedy is the two revision rounds, and I’d rather use them than argue.
- If you go silent for 30 days after a preview or a request for approval, the project is suspended and any deposit is forfeited. Restarting it needs a new quote. Life happens — just send an email and nothing gets forfeited.
- If I cancel or fail to deliver, you’re refunded for anything undelivered. That cuts both ways.
- Got a problem with a charge? Email me and give it ten business days before going to your bank. Reversing a payment terminates your license to the masters, which helps nobody.
Your record stays yours
On payment in full, all rights in the delivered masters transfer to you. No ownership interest is claimed in your compositions or your recordings, no points, no back end, nothing to buy out later. You own your record.
Unreleased material is confidential. Your mixes, titles, artwork, and release plans aren’t shared or posted.
Two things I ask in return
- Credit the mastering. “Mastered by Smithingrecords” — or “Mastered by Thaine Smith at Smithingrecords” — wherever mastering credits normally go: distributor metadata, liner notes, Bandcamp credits. It costs you nothing and it’s how a room like this gets built.
- Let me show the work. Once your record is out, I may name it in my credits list, show the artwork, and use short excerpts of the master alongside your original mix in before-and-after comparisons.
If the record is unreleased, embargoed, or you’d simply rather I didn’t — say so before work begins and it’s honored. No argument, no discount attached to it.
Send your music
Upload your mix(s) and tell me what the record is. I read everything that comes in.
Or just email me and we’ll work it out from there: thaine@smithingrecords.com
Keep your own copies of everything you send. This isn’t a backup service — files here are deleted 90 days after a project completes.
Every project runs under the Terms of Service. Submitting files means you agree to them, so they’re worth the five minutes.
