Online Mastering vs Studio Mastering: Does It Actually Matter?

If anything, the result is slightly better when the client isn't in the studio. That's not a dig at clients. It's just how the process works.

When someone's sitting in the room, I have to keep my head in it for the entire session. I can't step away for an hour and come back to it with fresh perspective. I can't finish the session, sleep on it, and listen again first thing the next morning when my ears have had a proper rest. That morning listen is where I catch the small things, the tiny micro-adjustments that take a master from good to right.

With a client in the room, we get to the end of the session, everyone's happy, and they go home with the track. I'm never quite sure whether I've done my absolute best work. If I could have done it on my own, sent it over, and then had them come back with a few changes, a little bit more detail would probably have gone into it.

With remote work, I have the freedom to work on a track, step away, come back, sleep on it, and send it when I know it's right.

There are times when having the client there is genuinely useful.

If someone has an idea for the track that isn't immediately obvious from the audio, it's great having them in the room. Sometimes I'll listen to a track and think it's a soulful deep house vibe, when actually in their head they've got heavy EDM and they want that kick smashing through everything. Once they describe it and push me in that direction, I get it immediately and we go down that route.

You can do that through remote mastering, but it means the first version I send might not be what they expected. Then they have to describe what they actually want. If we've got an existing relationship, that's straightforward. But with a first-time client, getting back something they weren't expecting can damage the relationship before it's started.

That's why reference tracks are so important for remote work.

And honestly, the client relationships are always good when people come in. We usually end up going down the pub afterwards for a bit of food and a drink and a chat. That side of it matters too.

Sometimes on a really big project with a local client, I'll say: let me do the main bulk of the work on my own, then come in for the finishing touches. That way I can get my head around all the difficult layout and formatting, get everything brushed into the right place, and then they can be there for the final nuances and taste decisions.

Album work is a good example. If all the tracks need to blend into each other and we're working from stems, things need to be placed precisely. A track coming in half a second later than the client thinks it should might be the difference between them loving it and not. For that level of detail, being in the room makes sense.

Working with someone in São Paulo or Tokyo is no different from working with someone in Richmond or Bristol. They send me the audio files. A reference track if they want. A description of what they're after if it isn't immediately obvious. I do the work, get to a place where I'm happy, bounce it, and send it off.

They listen and come back with either "this is amazing, let's go" or "can you turn the kick up a bit, can you bring the vocal down." That's it.

The only difference with Japan or Australia or LA is there's a pause. I send the track out, and by the next morning when I get back to work, there's probably an email waiting with feedback. Within Europe or the UK, I send something in the morning and by the afternoon I've usually got an answer. But we're only ever talking about a 24-hour difference. It's a non-issue.

If you're a first-time client, I don't know what you're after. Don't know your expectations. So here's what helps:

One or two reference tracks. Not five. If you give me five reference tracks with no direction, they're all going to be technically different from each other. Different kicks, different bass placement, different high-end treatment. Even tracks in the same genre sound incredibly different under the hood. One or two good refs is all I need.

Tell me what you like about the reference. This is the important bit. If you really like how the kick towers above everything else, tell me. If you love how forward the vocal is, tell me. If you just like the general vibe, tell me that, but make sure I know it's the vibe you're after, not a literal match.

Because if you send a reference track and I take it literally, I might push your kick way up and your hi-hats way up to match, and then you get it back and it's nothing like what you wanted. You didn't want a technical match. You wanted the feel. I need to know that.

Or just let me do my thing. That's where the experience comes in. I'll do what I think is best for the track. But if you've got a specific direction in mind, I need to know. We're not mind readers.

Remote mastering isn't a compromise. It's probably the better process for most projects. You get the same engineer, the same room, the same equipment, and you get the benefit of me having the time and space to do my best work without the pressure of someone watching.

Come into the studio if you want the relationship, if you've got a complex album project, or if you know your track needs a direction that's hard to describe in an email. Otherwise, just send the files.