MASTERING

Our dedicated group of award winning engineers have created an environment where precision, creativity, passion and skill come together to push sonic boundaries to new heights. We are able to work confidently in our world renowned mastering facility, drawing on an extensive, state of the art, set of customized mastering tools and equipment.

At JCM, we can help transform your music so it’s at its finest when you ultimately present it to the listening world.

Our Services

“The JCM family of engineers has without a doubt upped the ante sonically. It’s a blast working in an environment where you’re consistently being challenged by the best to be the best” – João

STEREO AND SURROUND MASTERING

We take full advantage of our critically acclaimed stereo and surround sound mastering rooms (regarded as one of the most accurate and stunning mastering rooms in the world ). The use of proper mastering techniques, the best equipment and 75 years of combined engineering experience has made João Carvalho Mastering a leader in the world of mastering. We use unique, fully customized, analog and digital signal paths, built in-house at Revolution Recording Custom Shop. Our Airfield Audio custom transfer console is control central, distributing audio signals through their paths pristinely. Our customized Wilson Audio Maxx playback monitors provide the ultimate in sonic fidelity and live amongst an array of more traditional “real world” monitors, useful for sonic averaging.

Our quality control process is second to none as we achieve anomalous and distortion-free masters using our custom, multi-system verification process. We will carefully enhance and further refine your mixes. Our goal: dynamic yet still, fully loud masters that meet or exceed all industry standards.

MASTERING FOR ITUNES (MFIT)

With iTunes being at the forefront of music delivery to more than 50 countries worldwide, it was inevitable that Apple would create a new and improved version of their original AAC audio file. This updated format now enables iTunes to accept high-resolution masters from JCM (an accredited iTunes mastering facility). We audition our mastered audio files while using Apple’s own proprietary software. This allows us to hear exactly how your music will sound as an iTunes AAC file. This then enables us to make any necessary adjustments to ensure that your music sounds its absolute best once it hits the iTunes music store.

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MASTERING FOR VINYL

To many, vinyl espouses the ultimate in playback fidelity. While to others it represents a time when recorded music was more carefully appreciated and listened to. Mastering for vinyl has made a significant resurgence in recent years and JCM is very pleased to provide our clients with this service. As of late, almost 40% of all the albums we master make their way onto vinyl. We currently output our own “enhanced for vinyl” high-resolution (better than CD quality) mastered files to create the optimal master for the ultimate in album lacquer cuts.

NIGHT SHIFT MASTERING

Night Shift Mastering gives independent artists the opportunity to have their music mastered at JCM at a very affordable cost. Tim Branton & Charles Carvalho, our night shift engineers, are well aware of the sonic challenges brought about by making an independent recording. With many years of experience, Tim and Charles have amassed an arsenal of skills and tricks to help reign in the “indie recording beast”. They have access to all the state of the art equipment at JCM while working at a discounted rate to help you keep your mastering budget on track.

RESTORATION, REMASTERING AND ARCHIVING

JCM has restored, re-mastered and archived many classic recordings and catalogs: The Tragically Hip, Stan Rogers, KD Lang, Sloan, Glass Tiger and Matthew Good to name a few. We’ve restored recordings that came to us in very poor condition after spending many years in storage. Others come to us with entire sections of audio missing leaving us to somehow fill in the gaps. Fortunately our engineers are well versed in the art of miracle making. Working with our technical partners at Revolution Recording Custom Shop tech guru Joe Dunphy takes great care in maintaining an impeccable set of classic and vintage machines. This ensures safe and pristine archival transfers to current digital media for proper storage and re-mastering.