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Author Topic: ...and by the way..MP3/service question  (Read 23130 times)

Waltz Mastering

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...and by the way..MP3/service question
« on: March 03, 2011, 02:33:21 PM »

Recently it seems a good number of clients ask for a set of mp3's... made and sent here or there, after the projects been "completed" and the bill's been settled.

Sometimes it boils down to an extra half hour of work..just wonder if ppl are doing this kind of stuff gratis or extra charge... or how you deal with it? Thx.

Allen Corneau

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2011, 04:18:52 PM »

Waltz Mastering wrote on Thu, 03 March 2011 13:33

Recently it seems a good number of clients ask for a set of mp3's... made and sent here or there, after the projects been "completed" and the bill's been settled.

Sometimes it boils down to an extra half hour of work..just wonder if ppl are doing this kind of stuff gratis or extra charge... or how you deal with it? Thx.



I've been going back and forth on this type of thing for a while.

I've contemplated making an "order form" of sorts so the clients can see the options for final parts, something like...

- Audio CD Replication Pre-master
- DDP image (on disc)
- DDP image (uploaded)
- 16-bit/44.1kHz WAV files
- 24-bit wav files
- MP3's; select from 320, 256, 192, or 128mbps (check all that apply)

This way I can pre-calculate (and pre-charge) for what the client will need before the final bill has been wrapped up.

I'll be curious to hear what other folks do about this kind of thing.
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aleatoric

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2011, 05:57:04 PM »

I don't charge for creating mp3's.  It takes me all of 5 minutes.  Load the masters into Max, in there I have the LAME mp3 codec already setup with the settings I like, click convert, upload and done.  I guess if I had to make a data disc and ship it I might charge something minimal like $5-$10 just to cover shipping and the cost of the blank, case and printer ink.  

TotalSonic

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2011, 06:27:23 PM »

To date I haven't been charging for additional compressed formats being requested - but I have been contemplating adding a minimal charge to cover the additional time needed for rendering and tagging (which is where things tend to take more time).  Still undecided on this.  I am planning an overall rate increase soon though - so need to figure out how much I want to add small increases per a la carte items versus more of global increases to cover the little bit of time consuming stuff (that adds up over several projects due that week )that might come.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Ben F

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2011, 07:16:54 PM »

In Sequoia export > audio as mp3, will export the entire project from track marker to track marker, as any mp3 encoding rate chosen with the ID3 tag as the CD text. Takes 5 minutes.
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Waltz Mastering

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2011, 11:28:28 PM »

Thx.  I guess it's not a big a hassle..especially to make them,... but  for sending them, I'd rather have  mp3's attached in an email (if it's only a  few) rather than uploaded via ftp,..  and at 256 that's what can cut into a little time.  

Just curious, when it comes to preparing and delivering different formats what others are doing...probably easiest to have it built into to the rate or get it sussed out front.
Allen Corneau wrote on Thu, 03 March 2011 16:18


I've contemplated making an "order form" of sorts so the clients can see the options for final parts, something like...

- Audio CD Replication Pre-master
- DDP image (on disc)
- DDP image (uploaded)
- 16-bit/44.1kHz WAV files
- 24-bit wav files
- MP3's; select from 320, 256, 192, or 128mbps (check all that apply)

This way I can pre-calculate (and pre-charge) for what the client will need before the final bill has been wrapped up.


I feel the above list could be a good idea as well.

Also considering different versions..ie: for vinyl release.

For Latin music... sometimes there are instrumental versions.
Hip hop.. instr, radio, street, accapella..oye...

cass anawaty

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2011, 10:51:53 AM »

Ben F wrote on Fri, 04 March 2011 00:16

In Sequoia export > audio as mp3, will export the entire project from track marker to track marker, as any mp3 encoding rate chosen with the ID3 tag as the CD text. Takes 5 minutes.

Yep--don't charge either.

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Thomas W. Bethel

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2011, 07:42:30 AM »

IMHO, in this economy it is not a good idea to start adding on a lot of extra charges (or raising prices).If you do you may see your clients looking elsewhere. Too many "mastering engineers" and not enough clients who need their services.

MTCW and YMMV

We don't charge for making MP3s of a client's work.
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dave-G

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #8 on: March 05, 2011, 08:55:49 AM »

Ben F wrote on Thu, 03 March 2011 19:16

In Sequoia export > audio as mp3, will export the entire project from track marker to track marker, as any mp3 encoding rate chosen with the ID3 tag as the CD text. Takes 5 minutes.

Wow. That's really nice ... and a not-so-minor example from among the list of reasons I feel I need to assimilate to Sampquoia.  I do so wish I could do so without having to add another computer to my pile, and a windows rig at that.

For the meantime, on my Mac-rigs, I typically use a 'workflow' in Sample Manager, which can do the conversion and deposit the finished files on the FTP server without another thought.

It only gets labor-intensive if they ask for full ID3 tagging. ..


Thomas W. Bethel wrote on Sat, 05 March 2011 07:42

IMHO, in this economy it is not a good idea to start adding on a lot of extra charges (or raising prices).If you do you may see your clients looking elsewhere. Too many "mastering engineers" and not enough clients who need their services.


I think we need the voice actor that plays Eeyore to read your posts sometimes, Thomas.

I don't charge more than my basic reference parts costs for simple MP3s, unless it's full-service with ID3 tagging, in multiple formats and such, but. ..  in those cases, the client knows they're asking me to take on something time-intensive, or are otherwise aware that it's a request for a service.  Others likely do it themselves on any of the zillions of free apps that can do the job, but I've never had any grousing or pushback about a reasonable additional parts-fee for that heavier level of file-cooking.

-Dave
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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #9 on: March 05, 2011, 03:15:07 PM »

dave-G wrote on Sat, 05 March 2011 08:55

Ben F wrote on Thu, 03 March 2011 19:16

In Sequoia export > audio as mp3, will export the entire project from track marker to track marker, as any mp3 encoding rate chosen with the ID3 tag as the CD text. Takes 5 minutes.

Wow. That's really nice ...



And you can have multiple instances open at the same time. So you could have pitch, catch and utility versions open. You can keep working while it chugs away.

Burning discs is too much work for my computer while pitching and catching but any HD only operations are fine.
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David Glasser

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2011, 03:53:23 PM »

I can't think of any other industry where so many practitioners trip over themselves to boast  - proudly - how much work they do for free.

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David Glasser
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MoreSpaceEcho

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #11 on: March 05, 2011, 04:24:45 PM »

if you think not charging for mp3s is bad, i overdubbed bass on one client's record and didn't charge her any extra...
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SafeandSound

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #12 on: March 05, 2011, 04:38:09 PM »

What if your encoding software screws up, client uploads and sells
glitched audio.

You don't listen through to everything that leaves your studio?
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Jerry Tubb

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #13 on: March 05, 2011, 06:28:15 PM »

David Glasser wrote on Sat, 05 March 2011 14:53

I can't think of any other industry where so many practitioners trip over themselves to boast  - proudly - how much work they do for free.




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cass anawaty

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #14 on: March 05, 2011, 07:30:33 PM »

David Glasser wrote on Sat, 05 March 2011 20:53

I can't think of any other industry where so many practitioners trip over themselves to boast  - proudly - how much work they do for free.



In sales terminology it's called "value added service", and is part of a larger picture.
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jdg

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #15 on: March 05, 2011, 07:51:14 PM »

dunno 'bout you guys, but my mastering is free, its just the conversation costs $6000
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Waltz Mastering

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #16 on: March 06, 2011, 10:27:40 AM »

SafeandSound wrote on Sat, 05 March 2011 16:38

What if your encoding software screws up, client uploads and sells
glitched audio.

You don't listen through to everything that leaves your studio?

Are you saying that you listen through all mp3's that leave your studio?..and do you charge for this?

TotalSonic

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #17 on: March 06, 2011, 01:36:13 PM »

SafeandSound wrote on Sat, 05 March 2011 16:38

What if your encoding software screws up, client uploads and sells
glitched audio.


This has never happened to me.  I simply haven't had a converted file (or CD master) ever have glitches in them that weren't present in the original final image files that they were made from.

Quote:


You don't listen through to everything that leaves your studio?


I listen to the final image file that all further file formats or master discs are made from in its entirety.  Once that has been done I have a number of tests (i.e. Plextools, nulls against the original files) that I do to rendered files or master discs to verify that they are indeed the exact same as the original image - but no way in heck I listen to every single file made from the master image or I simply would never do anything else here.

I think some level of paranoia is absolutely necessary for proper QC - but there's no need to take it to an absurd level.  

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Allen Corneau

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Re: ...and by the way
« Reply #18 on: March 10, 2011, 10:01:40 AM »

David Glasser wrote on Sat, 05 March 2011 14:53

I can't think of any other industry where so many practitioners trip over themselves to boast  - proudly - how much work they do for free.



Dave,

For some reason your comment has been stuck in my head since I read this post. So I'll ask...

How do you charge for making MP3's? Do you charge regular "on the clock" studio time, a flat rate, something else? I know Airshow is a big shop with lots of clients, so I'm curious how that works in your operation.

Wouldn't mind if Chris Athens or Dave McNare spoke up about how this is handled at Sterling as they are also at a "big shop" studio.

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Allen Corneau
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