Stereo Source Formats:

We can accept the following formats/media for mastering.

¼”, ½”, & 1″ Analog Tape
Broadcast Wave (BWF) (Suggested), .wav, .aif, .sd2, , CD24 (Masterlink), OMF, and .avi.
IEEE 1394 (firewire) and USB 2.0 Hard Drives are accepted with any of the following formats:
NTFS, FAT32, HFS, or HFS+

Please note: Any tape based format will incur equipment rental charges.

Important points to remember:

If you have Masterlink with mixes on the internal hard drive, we would prefer that you bring in your Masterlink unit.

If you have .sd2 files and burn CD’s with Toast, DO NOT make ISO9660 discs as this will prevent the files from being read.

Providing multi-track mix ‘stems’ gives more flexibility.

If you mix within a DAW and can bring a portable version of that DAW, that’s the best of all worlds because slight tweaks in the mix can make all the difference in the mastering process.

Archival

Probably the most important part of the audio process is preserving your art for the ages. N.A.R.A.S. has developed a Master Delivery Specifications and Guideline paper for acceptable delivery to record labels and product storage. We follow those guidelines and recommend that you archive your music to DVD-R. During the Mastering process, we meticulously transfer your product into our systems as files, converting as necessary to the Broadcast Wave format. Often, additional files need to be generated to complete the process. To preserve your project for the future, we recommend that you allow us to archive all of those files to DVD-R for safety and future use.

We can also archive your whole project including multi-tracks and documentation. Just bring in your hard drive with consolidated multi-track files, along with all of your documentation, and we’ll organize your project on a song by song basis into proper folder structures with the mix versions and documentation providing you with multiple DVD-Rs so that you can store them in multiple locations. If you’re using one of multitude of tape based formats, we can transfer those tapes into a DAW to create Broadcast Wave files for archival.

Restoration

We can give your old analog masters new life with broadband noise removal, declick and decrackle old vinyl, and spot removal of clicks and noises.

Pitch Change/Time Compression/Expansion

Many times you’ll need a pitch change, without tempo change, for various things like live performance, different singers, etc. Additionally, you might need a tempo change without pitch change. We can accommodate your needs in this area. But, we’ve found that even the best tools available can only vary the pitch by one and a half steps without noticeable artifacts.

Other Services

We offer format change/conversion, help with prep for downloads, project editing, instrument and vocal comping, Small run CD/DVD duplication, simple DVD creation, and help with virtually anything to do with audio. If you have any issues or questions about audio, media creation, or production, just call and we’ll recommend a solution.