SOUND ON SOUND

[TheLegit]

I'd like to use one of these services just for random instrumentals or bits of music that won't be going on say I-Tunes or anything immediately commercial, however is there one that stands out in people's eyes.

[James Perrett]

You could always try Ozone on one of its automatic settings. You can usually pick up Ozone Elements for $29 from somewhere.

[TheLegit]

You could always try Ozone on one of its automatic settings. You can usually pick up Ozone Elements for $29 from somewhere.

Great idea thanks!

[The Elf]

I really wouldn't bother with any of those online services. And I would treat any presets as starting points - and with a huge pinch of salt. You know how you want your music to sound - those presets dont. You will need to tweak them, or even remove processes.

Choosing a preset and hoping for the best is one thing, but learning what it is doing and making reasoned decisions of your own is another. The latter is where I would be aiming.

[CS70]

I'd like to use one of these services just for random instrumentals or bits of music that won't be going on say I-Tunes or anything immediately commercial, however is there one that stands out in people's eyes.

Don't think there is any, because there's no "better" in any objective sense.

Either mastering is about keeping hard the sound of the mix as it is, while making it as translatable as possible.. or it is about changing the sound of a mix to a level which means it's just a different mix, only limited or LUFS-normalized.

With real mastering engineers, you have people who try hard the former approach and people who like to give their sonic signature to whatever they master.

All these services tend to do the latter one. At that point, it's just about how much you prefer what comes out from whatever you had put in.