Crystal Mastering has a highly skilled group of engineers who are well acquainted with this audio format and know exactly how to get the best out of it.
With decades of experience mastering for vinyl, our engineers have mastered thousands of local releases as well as #1 albums on the ARIA & Billboard Vinyl Charts.
At Crystal Mastering we have audio engineers whom have dedicated their working lives to producing great sounding albums and who are aware of the technical considerations that apply specifically to this unique medium. If you want to work with engineers who care about your music as much as you do, expert vinyl mastering in Australia is close at hand.
A Special Format
Compact Discs store music in a digital format, which means there is no need to consider or compensate for the actual recording medium when mastering. The noughts and ones you send to the CD pressing plant will be exactly the same on the finished discs. With vinyl mastering on the other hand, we need to consider the fact that the frequencies, phase & volume of each recording will have an effect on the physical master. The biggest limitations of vinyl is the fact that bass frequencies and volume greatly influence the available playback time on the disc.
Tips For Mixing
There are physical limits to what the head of a lathe can produce when cutting vinyl. Following are some general tips for mixes destined for vinyl;
• Be aware, not alarmed, of panning ‘bass heavy’ instruments. Your bass certainly
doesn’t have to be mono, however if panned too extreme, measures may have to
be taken to reign it in a little. There are no hard and fast rules here, and the
mastering engineer will use their experience to determine how wide the bass
frequencies on your mix can be. This may also be a conversation that the mastering
engineer has with cutting engineer, and it’s not unheard of to do a few ‘test cuts’ to
get trouble records across the line.
• Try to eliminate as much sibilance as possible on the vocal track (de-essing)
• Avoid excessive amounts of sub bass frequencies (below 40Hz), as well as
excessive top end (above 16kHz).
• Avoid any kind of clipping or brick-wall limiting on your mix. Believe it or not,
un-like in the digital domain, limiting your mix will actually result in quieter vinyl.
The cutting lathe will always respond better to a mix with a little dynamics.
Expert Advice
If you are not sure how best to prepare your mixes for vinyl mastering, please feel
free to get in touch with us. Our mastering engineers are always happy to discuss
mixes and even have a listen to them before mastering takes place.
For expert vinyl mastering call (03) 9484 8814.
When mastering for vinyl, the rule of thumb is, ‘time versus recorded level’. That is, the louder it is & the more bass it has, the shorter the playing time. Listed below are optimum side lengths for achieving maximum bass response, volume & fidelity.
12 inch single 33 rpm: 10-12 mins
12 inch L.P. 33rpm: 15-18 mins
12 inch single 45 rpm: 6-8 mins
12 inch L.P. 45 rpm: 12-15 mins
7 inch 45 rpm single: 3 mins
7 inch 33 rpm single: 5 mins
The times below are not exactly optimal cutting lengths, but can still yield
very good results. Discs with longer than normal side lengths may be required
to be cut with less volume and with possible bass attenuation, but these
factors depend greatly on the source material.
12 inch single 33 rpm: 12-14mins
12 inch LP 33 rpm: 20-24 mins
12 inch single 45 rpm: 8-10 mins
12 inch LP 45 rpm: 15-16 mins
7 inch single 45 rpm: 5 mins
7 inch single 33 rpm: 7 mins