Single Song Mastering Cost Calculator

ISRC Code Generation

Choose this option if you would like to have ISRC codes generated and assigned to each of your songs. An ISRC code is a digital fingerprint for each of your songs to track online usage, radio play, and other usage in the interest of collecting royalties. ISRC codes do not directly relate to album or project info being displayed on CD players or in iTunes/Apple Music software on a computer. See HERE for more info on how CD players and music playback software like iTunes/Apple Music and Windows Media Player will identify your CD.

ISRC codes are not required for a CD release, and are not required to be embedded in the master WAV files for digital distribution. If you do not have ISRC codes at the time of digital distribution, your digital distributor will create them. However, this means the codes will not be on your CD master (if applicable) and they will also not be embedded in the master WAV files that you receive from Mystery Room Mastering.

Having Mystery Room Mastering assign your ISRC codes ahead of time and embed them where possible ensures that your CD master and manufactured CDs have valid ISRC codes embedded, and you can then use these same ISRC codes when you set up your digital distribution. These codes will also be embedded in the master WAV and mp3 files for music licensing, future-proofing, and other miscellaneous things. All of which can simplify things.

If you have Mystery Room Mastering assign and embed codes, please note that at this time, digital distributors (such as DistroKid, CD BaBy, TuneCore, etc.) do not read the embedded codes or any other metadata directly. You will have to manually enter the info for each song and release. If you Mystery Room Mastering assign and embed codes, you’ll receive more info as well as the codes in a spreadsheet view to help with this process.

You can also provide your own ISRC codes at no additional cost if you have them. Use the designated ISRC field in the form below if you have your own codes. ISRC codes must be provided by the time the final CD master for production is made (at the very latest) if you’d like them included on the manufactured CDs. There is no way to retroactively add ISRC codes to a physical CD once manufacturing has started but you could remake the DDP or CD-R production master with the ISRC codes added for the next CD pressing.

Instrumental Masters

Check this box if you are also supplying instrumental mixes of your songs to be mastered. It’s important to provide these additional mixes at the same time as the main mixes or the total cost will be higher because of extra work involved.

Mystery Room Mastering cannot create instrumental masters from your regular mixes with vocals. Instrumental mixes must be created at the mixing stage by the mixing engineer.

Rush Service

If you choose this option, initial masters are guaranteed to be delivered to you within 72 hours from the time the files and data are submitted.

From there, most revisions can be done the same or next day depending on the timing and complexity of the revision requests.

Maintain or conserve original dynamic range.

Choose this option if you favor a more natural sounding master. A dynamic and natural sounding master comes at the expense of some overall loudness, but is often more pleasing to listen to in context. A more dynamic master can actually have much more impact than a master that is extremely loud if the mixing and mastering are tastefully done. By preserving the dynamic range of your master, you are leaving some headroom for the loud parts to get loud, and the quieter parts to remain quieter.

Since nearly all streaming services now use Loudness Normalization by default in most playback situations, going extremely loud often results in your songs being turned down as well as ruining the punch, impact, and dynamics.

It’s a very subjective decision that also depends on the qualities of your performances, recording, and mixing. Remember that louder does not always equal better and you can’t have a master with both an extremely high average loudness and an extremely dynamic master at the same time. It’s a give and take process.

Make it loud!

Choose this option if the main objective of your mastering session is to achieve a loud master, without regard to how the streaming services may end up turning it WAY down anyway. Generally speaking, the louder the master, more compromises to the dynamic range, transients/clarity, and sonic characteristics must be made as the level is pushed to extremely loud levels.

In the digital world, all material reaches a certain point in which making it louder involves compression and/or digital limiting. This will induce sonic artifacts into your music that can work well for some styles of music, but are not pleasing or ideal for all styles of music. Extremely loud masters will begin to sound harsh and aggressive when they reach a certain point.

It’s a very subjective decision that also depends on the style and quality of your performances, recording, and mix. Remember that louder does not always equal better and you can’t have a master with both an extremely high average loudness and an extremely dynamic master at the same time. It’s a give and take process.

Since nearly all streaming services now use Loudness Normalization by default in most playback situations, going extremely loud often results in your songs being turned down as well as ruining the punch, impact, and dynamics.

Sometimes no matter how loud you attempt to make a master, it may NOT have a lot of “perceived loudness”. CLICK HERE to read more on this.

Find the sweet spot.

Choose this option if you trust Mystery Room Mastering to find the sweet spot for your master based on the style of music, as well as the style and qualities of your performances, recording, and mixes. Now that most (but not all) streaming services have loudness normalization turned ON by default in the mobile and desktop apps, it’s becoming more common to choose this option because the loudness in which your music is played back is now managed by the app, and mastering something extremely loud can result in it being turned down more than 5 decibels.

Choosing this option will result in a nice balance so that your release is at a healthy level in non-normalized situations, but still retains some punch, dynamics, and clarity knowing that in a growing majority of cases, the streaming service app will control the final playback level for the listener anyway. This option allows us to do what’s best for your music, rather than potentially damaging it to arbitrarily compete with the extreme loudness of something else.

CLICK HERE to read more about perceived loudness vs. technical loudness.

Target Completion Date

Please let us know when you need to have this project 100% ready for production and distribution. Ample time will be allowed for reviewing the initial master and requesting any potential changes, so please use this date to indicate when the project needs to be finalized and ready for production and distribution, not when you’d like to hear the initial master.

It’s common for projects 5 songs or less to be ready for approval within 4-7 days, while projects 6 songs or more may take up to 7 to 10 days for an initial master ready for approval. This really just depends on the timing of your project and the current workload.

If you need an ultra fast turnaround, choose “Rush Service” in the “Other Options” section above (when available).

Feel free to email justin(at)mysteryroommastering.com to discuss any deadline specifics.

TV Mix Masters/Radio Edits/Alternate Passes etc.

Check this box if you are also supplying TV mixes or alternate mixes of your songs to be mastered such as radio edits. It’s important to provide these additional mixes at the same time as the main mixes, or the total cost will be higher because of extra work involved if they need to be done at a later time.

How many songs

This is only applied if ALL the songs from this set of digital singles can be mastered at the same time. See THIS page to read more about mastering an album in multiple sessions.