Mastering House ???

[pianoworldstage]

Hi

I recently intended to upload an album to CD Baby for digital distribution to all online music stores and streaming platforms, until i was informed by CD Baby that unless the album had been mastered and verified by a pro mastering house, the album would not be accepted by Apples iTunes music store.

Does this mean the original artist doesn't have the freedom to master their own work?

[Hugh Robjohns]

Apple now requires all tracks to meet their MFiT standard, and to ensure that they have to come from one of Apple's approved 'aggregators'. There are more details here:

https://www.justmastering.com/article-masteredforitunes.php

https://www.apple.com/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/

[Sam Spoons]

I wonder how much the 'pro mastering house' have to pay Apple before being accepted as such......

[Martin Walker]

I wonder how much the 'pro mastering house' have to pay Apple before being accepted as such......

Does that imply a touch of cynicism Sam?

(it makes perfect sense though, knowing the Apple empire)

Martin

[Sam Spoons]

Just a little Martin.....

Thankfully my stuff is never likely to trouble the fruit...

[Drew Stephenson]

Actually I'm not sure what Apple get out of this? They get a higher standard of mastered work, but is that a major source of complaints for them?
If you want to cast a cynical eye over it, you'd ask, "Who benefits?" To which the answer is the pro mastering places who can get on the list.
But most mastering engineers I know of have been banging on about these issues (better resolution and more dynamic mixes = good thing) for years. So I'd be surprised if all these small, independent mastering engineers managed to get together and lobby Apple to change their process.
The cynic in me says this is driven by the major labels (and their recording studios) trying to re-insert themselves as gatekeepers in the system.
And succeeding.

That means my band won't be putting any more music on iTunes. Which is a little vexing.

(Interestingly I couldn't find anything on CDBaby's site about MFiT).

[James Perrett]

I must admit that I've not heard anything about this from my main label client yet - though they go through a trade distributor rather than one open to all.

[Drew Stephenson]

I was wondering if you were already registered James, or what it takes to get registered.

[James Perrett]

I've not really looked into it and, as I'm not part of the Apple eco-system, I'm not sure whether I'd be able to run the tools they suggest on the page that Hugh linked to. If it becomes a problem I'll have to investigate though.

[pianoworldstage]

OP

Just to clarify, its called Apples Digital Masters Album.

CD Baby states that ITunes also accepts 16 bit files and the majority of CD Baby clients go with the 16 bit option for ITunes. 

Meaning ITunes accept 16bit files without the mastering house verification requirement, not sure? 

Whereas only the 24 bit file option for ITunes needs mastering verification? Therefore resulting in 2 paid submissions and 2 bar codes.

I've yet to hear from them for this to be confirmed. If the above is correct? It seems logical to go with the 16 bit option, therefore saving the expense on pro mastering, two album submissions and two bar codes.

Some what of a logistical conundrum..

[MOF]

(Interestingly I couldn't find anything on CDBaby's site about MFiT).

It’s mentioned at the bottom of this page, https://cdbaby.com/mastering.aspx not specifically MFiT though “Note: Mastering must happen prior to submitting your album or single to CD Baby.”

[Drew Stephenson]

My reading of that is about using the SoundLab service and it's a reminder that you use SoundLab before submitting to CDBaby.
It never used to be a requirement to use a professional mastering house to get stuff into their distribution network. And, as indicated by pianoworldstage above, for everything apart from Apple it still isn't.
What I can't work out from their text is whether the 16bit approach gets you onto Apple's 'standard' format or just not on Apple at all. I'm struggling to find the page at the moment. (Mostly because my internet connection is not playing ball).

[ore_terra]

Hi

my band's latest stuff has not been mastered by a MFiT "approved" mastering studio (a good mastering studio though), and still it has been placed in apple music by cd baby. hope it helps.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I think it's just the case that you can't have the MFiT badge unless the material comes via an approved mastering house, and Apple are trying to promote MFiT as a superior quality format within iTunes.

[Martin Walker]

Well that will come as a relief to a load of mastering houses who don't fancy being certified

Martin

[pianoworldstage]

What I can't work out from their text is whether the 16bit approach gets you onto Apple's 'standard' format or just not on Apple at all.

OP, Just to clarify,

CD Baby just got back to me and confirmed Apple / ITunes do accept 16 bit files as standard submission without the mastering house verification tag. Its only 24 bit files that Apple / iTunes require mastering verification.

[RichardT]

I wonder how much impact MFIT will have. It seems a lot of faff for the artist and mastering house.

[CS70]

Whereas only the 24 bit file option for ITunes needs mastering verification?

Can't see why a 24 bit file should be particularly better in general than a "classic" 16 bit one.
It could be that their compression/encoding algorithm has been tuned so that it can take more hints from the little additional information present with 24 bit samples, and thus produce a better quality compressed format.

But being the ambient noise what it is for most recordings, it seems unlikely, at least for the vast majority of "normally" recorded music. I have zero problems submitting "cd" 16 bit masters.. let's just say I don't think the quality of my music and the experience depends on that. At all.

Nothing that a good old ABX test can't fix, however.

[RichardT]

Whereas only the 24 bit file option for ITunes needs mastering verification?

Can't see why a 24 bit file should be particularly better in general than a "classic" 16 bit one.
It could be that their compression/encoding algorithm has been tuned so that it can take more hints from the little additional information present with 24 bit samples, and thus produce a better quality compressed format.

But being the ambient noise what it is for most recordings, it seems unlikely, at least for the vast majority of "normally" recorded music. I have zero problems submitting "cd" 16 bit masters.. let's just say I don't think the quality of my music and the experience depends on that. At all.

Nothing that a good old ABX test can't fix, however.

I agree. The extra 8 bits lower the noise floor in theory, but it’s doubtful it makes much if any difference in practice.

[zenguitar]

Perhaps the mastering verification is to ensure that no one is tempted to pad their 16 bit recordings with 8 zeros and call them 24 bit.

Andy

[Drew Stephenson]

What I can't work out from their text is whether the 16bit approach gets you onto Apple's 'standard' format or just not on Apple at all.

OP, Just to clarify,

CD Baby just got back to me and confirmed Apple / ITunes do accept 16 bit files as standard submission without the mastering house verification tag. Its only 24 bit files that Apple / iTunes require mastering verification.

Thank you for confirming!

[Martin Walker]

The extra 8 bits lower the noise floor in theory, but it’s doubtful it makes much if any difference in practice.

I totally agree, and routinely convert all FLAC files I buy on Bandcamp to 44.1kHz/16-bit format, which in a lot of cases saves an awful lot of hard drive space without compromising audio quality in the slightest.

And as I've mentioned before in similar discussions, I take exception to the few labels who insist on charging more for a 24-bit release than a 16-bit one

Martin