Nicholas Bolton

ABOUT

I’ve been mastering music for more than twelve years now, working with hundreds of artists from nearly every genre and from around the world.

PRICING

Mastering rates are based on the total track count of your project. This price includes all processing, sequencing, noise reduction, metadata, edits and revisions.

I view mastering as a collaborative process. Along side the artist, I work to reveal their music as the best version of itself. Since each project is unique each project receives a custom approach, shaped by the artist’s ideas and aesthetic.

Singles
2 - 3 songs
4 - 6 songs
7 + songs

$ 85 / song
$ 70 / song
$ 65 / song
$ 60 / song

The studio features a collection of my favorite analog and digital tools, in an incredibly accurate and neutral full-range listening environment.

When not mastering or playing shows, I work at NYU’s Department of Music and Performing Arts as the Audio / Video Supervisor. There I teach, design and engineer audio and projections for hundreds of events each year in four performance art spaces.

Alternate masters (versions optimized for vinyl or cassette) are an additional $15 per song. Alternate mixes (instrumental, radio versions, stems, etc.) are an additional $30 per mix. DDP Image for CD manufacturing is an additional $50 per album.

Pricing can be flexible, if money’s tight let me know and we'll work something out.

PREPARATION

Please send digital mixes to nick@boltonsound.com in a zip file via unrestricted download link.

Mixes should be at least 24 bit and at the original session’s sample rate.

Please remove any brickwall limiting on the mix bus and ensure there is enough headroom. Bus compression, saturation and other bus effects integral to the character of the mix are okay!

If you have limited reference versions that were used for the artist’s approval it’s nice to have those as well.

Please also include any alternate mixes you need mastered.

Contact me to arrange delivery of mixes on physical media.

TURNAROUND

Projects aren’t complete until artists are entirely happy with their masters.

Preview masters are first sent via web player to receive artist feedback.

Upon approval, I typically deliver masters for digital release as both 44.1 khz / 16 bit and 96 khz / 24 bit WAV files via download link. If you need different formats for digital release please let me know.

Additional high resolution files are included for alternate versions and DDP Image if ordered.

Turnaround averages about one week for full length albums, usually less for EPs and singles. If you need masters quicker ask me about rush availability.