Mastering is a key part of the music making process that often goes overlooked, misunderstood, or simply avoided for feasibility reasons. TuneCore continues to offer professional mastering services, in which your songs are sent to engineers at Universal Mastering Studios, but in order to provide multiple solutions for artists, we recently introduced MixGenius’ LANDR Instant Mastering service. It allows you to refine and polish your music for $9.99 per track, perfecting the sound of your recordings in just minutes.
Now, our community of artists is a vocal one (no pun intended). Some flock to services like LANDR for their quality and price, while others are true engineering traditionalists who stand by the standard processes of mastering your music. Here at TuneCore, we love them all! We’re not out to put engineers out of business with innovative solutions like LANDR, rather we aim to simply to provide our artists with options. A few months in, we reached out to some TuneCore Artists who used LANDR to instantly master their songs, and here’s what they had to say about their experiences:
“As an independent artist on a shoestring budget, (but still having to ‘box against Mayweather from round one’ in the musical market), it is a struggle sometimes when recording on budget devices and non studio environment to produce a final mix that has broad spectrum-fullness on the EQ and is still loud without distortion or loss of quality. Especially when fighting with bass levels and top end levels whilst maintaining the correct loudness for release. LANDR is a gem of a service: not only is it cheap enough to be a no-brainer, but it means I can record all the levels how I want without fighting for loudness in the mix down. I can submit my final, copy it LANDR and relax knowing it will be sonically maximized to be full across the spectrum, (and still retain the loudness and clarity expected in the marketplace). Not to mention getting it in 24bit for better quality releases on iTunes.”
– ViN (Vince Robson)
“Zero to symphony in one click. Get LANDR-ized! As an independent artist, you are in charge of your success and sound. If you just look extremely sexy and don’t sound incredibly sexy at the same time, you’re a flop. TuneCore and their Artist Services allow the little guy to stretch their recording budget so more money can be used for marketing, merchandise and munchies.”
– I.M.J.O.U.R.
“When I first used [LANDR] I was on a tight schedule and needed mastering that very day. I got an email about LANDR, used it and was amazed by the sound quality and difference from my mixed work. I have two different engineers I use to master my work. The sound quality was very identical if not on the same quality as the engineers I use, (and these engineers I use have worked with major recording artists in the past).
Mastering makes a big difference when it comes to a record, it can make or break it. You can have the best song on the planet at the moment, but it won’t get the recognition you hoped for if the sound quality isn’t on a professional level. When your an independent artist, one of the struggles is finding a cost effective way to get the sound quality you want. I live in Atlanta where being a artist can become very costly, so having something available like this when needed is dope!”
– J Cutta
“Mastering is an essential component to achieving the sonic quality necessary for music to sound great,” said Tom Weir, Grammy Winning Mastering Engineer. I’ve worked with Tom on many projects and he always reminds me to master every song before I consider it completed. I’m very excited about LANDR Instant Mastering service because I’ve been able to send out high quality versions of my music at a low cost.
Sometimes I send out music to get feedback from fans, managers or other musicians and it’s only a mixed version. With LANDR, I can add that extra polish to my tracks in just a few minutes.
Being signed to TuneCore Publishing, I know my music has a greater chance of being placed because I’ve followed all the necessary steps which ends with the mastering process.”
– Leonard Rashad
“I was thoroughly impressed with LANDR’s ease of use. I’ve been producing music for over 5 years now, and the part I find to be the least enjoyable is mastering. One wrong move there can take a production from great to mediocre. You can always hire an engineer, but if you have more than one song, it can get very expensive very quickly. Most producers aren’t millionaires, so we need a cost and time efficient solution. LANDR provided me that solution.
At first, I didn’t know what to make of it. Good quality mp3 mastering for free and even higher quality WAV files for only $9.99? It sounded too good to be true, but for only $9.99, I decided to give it a try. Uploading my track was easy, and my song was completely mastered in only a few minutes. I was definitely impressed. The quality of LANDR rivals any mastering service I ever dealt with in the past. LANDR did an absolutely wonderful job, and it’s where I’ll turn for all of my future mastering needs.
Not only does LANDR help you save money, but it saves you time, too. LANDR virtually eliminates turnaround time. No need to wait 3-5 business days to get your track returned anymore; 4-5 minutes is all you need to preview your completely mastered track from LANDR.
LANDR is bound to be a game changer due to its low cost, high quality and ease of use. Producers finally have a mastering solution that keeps control in the hands of the producer.”
“I love LANDR. I’ll still use it on any track I get mastered simply because LANDR states that it has the best quality for iTunes and all similar digital stores alike. I haven’t narrowed down a studio yet in Boston, so I’m dealing with a good amount of engineers. I trust LANDR. I trust anything TuneCore recommends. Period.”
“Being an independent music artist is tough, but it’s not impossible. There are resources put in place to help us get out here and accomplish our goals. Whether it’s living off of your music or being a known and a consistent name, the opportunities are limitless. You took the precious time in production and if you did not produce your own music, you already half invested in your sound, you might as well fully invest in it. LANDR Instant Mastering gives you the quality you need and should want, but at affordable price. It’s beyond worth it and for little to nothing your music has a professional sound. Other facts being the start up process is easy and only takes minutes, you’re able to hear the sample mastering before purchase, uploading files is easy, they store your files privately, you always have access to them and mastering itself takes minutes where as traditional mastering usually takes hours, days, weeks. I recommend this service to all independent music artists, and if you’re still not convinced, just listen to my music. It’s all the proof you need.”
– Tywon Mikado
“I thought using LANDR was very easy and effective for my single. It can be really expensive to get your music mastered and time consuming having to book studio time. LANDR was very convenient and inexpensive to use from home.”
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