Online Services

Look no further. Outer Limit Recording Studio can AND WILL give you the BEST chance at impressing the label, getting hits online, and selling CDs and mp3s by giving you the best mixing and mastering at a very fair price.

Here’s why Outer Limit Recording Studio is the company you want to use to finish your project:

Experience – Outer Limit has been amazing clients for over two decades. Our chief engineer has been playing instruments since before the age of three, can play half-a-dozen of them fluently and dabbles in others, has a full four-year music-intensive degree in Sound Recording Technology, and opened Outer Limit Recording Studio in 1993.
We have clients from not only across the United States, but in France, New Zealand, Norway, Dubai, Russia, and more.
In our city we’re the absolute go-to studio for recording, mixing, and mastering.
We can get it done FAST for you. Depending on the scope and quality of the songs you send, and if there are no snags with respect to formats, we can generally turn around a project in less than a week.
Convenient payment options – Paypal and all major credit cards are accepted
We offer discounts on multiple-song projects

“Ken approaches all his work, whether it be modern electric beat-scapes or background gospel harmonies, with his ears -and what is between them- fully engaged! He has the musical acuity of a world-class engineer/producer yet the humility, heart and soul of a true gentleman. There is not another engineer that I would prefer to work with in Buffalo or anywhere for that matter.”

“We use Outer Limit all the time for on-air songs and production pieces for our morning show. Ken is really great to work with and gives us top quality stuff. His work is extremely professional and we would definitely recommend using him for your next project.”

“Outer Limit is the real thing. Ken knows what sounds hot and makes sure that my tracks are bangin’. It’s nice to have an engineer who treats your project like it’s his own. Outer Limit has all the things I really need… a laid-back environment, and a cool-as-hell staff that delivers professional results. I’ve been using Outer Limit for years and wouldn’t consider using another studio for my projects.”

Online Mixing Rates

1-8 separate tracks*: $50.00
9-16 separate tracks*: $75.00
17-24 separate tracks*: $100.00

Add $15.00 per song if Autotune/Elastic Audio/pitch correction is desired. NEW**** FREE Autotune and pitch correction now included!

Add $5.00 for each additional version desired, such as a capella mixes, instrumental mixes, radio mixes, etc., There is NO CHARGE for VOCAL UP or VOCAL DOWN mixes in addition to the original.

*Songs must be 6 minutes in length or less. Contact us for songs over this length or for projects with more than 24 tracks. We can handle them easily, but we’d like to talk to you to make sure you get the best bang for your buck.

Online Mastering Rates

$15.00 per minute of audio material (so a 3-minute song, for instance, is $45 to master). We also offer volume discounts bringing this charge down to as little as $10.00 per minute.

This rate includes:

32-bit digital transfers from your CD, hard drive, or internet links
Processing and editing your source materials to add depth, loudness, life, etc.
Fade-ins, fade-outs, and cross-fades
Noise reduction, if necessary
Wav files or high-resolution mp3s emailed, if requested

What is Mixing?

Mixing is the process in which we take all of the elements; the kick, the snare, hats, toms, bass, guitars, harmonica, glockenspiel, chickens, vocals… whatever, and balance them perfectly to give you the professional sound that you need to compete.

Mixing also includes adding effects like compression, EQ, reverb, delay, chorus and dozens of others to make your song stand out above anything you’ve done before – and to stand out above your competition.

If you give us good, cleanly-recorded songs, we’ll give you GREAT results! We’ve been listening, learning, and paying attention to the top acts out there for decades, and we know all the tricks and techniques to giving you the fullest, most crisp and professional sound.

What is Mastering?

Why Do I Need It If My Song Has Been Mixed?

CD mastering, also called Digital Mastering, Audio Mastering, Mastering, Music Mastering, or in this case Online Mastering, is the process whereby we put the finishing touches on the mix. There are many processes and techniques in the mastering process that simply cannot be done during the mixing process. Think of mixing like creating an incredible cake. Mixing is like collecting the absolute best, tastiest ingredients and mixing them in perfect proportions in the proper order and then baking them into a work of art. Mastering is the frosting and decoration on the cake. There’s no way to frost it first or even during the process, just like there’s no way to master as part of a mix.

We use mastering to do many things, but the first thing you’ll notice is that your songs are LOUDER, CLEARER, WIDER, and HIT HARDER. The more you listen to your mastered songs, the more things you’ll notice. You’ll hear that all of the individual instruments and vocals that you thought were great are now even better… you’ll hear that the mix has a certain cohesiveness that it didn’t have before – that it sounds like a SONG instead of just a collection of elements… you’ll hear that the bass KICKS, if appropriate, of course, and that the high-end SHINES. In short, your music will have just taken a giant step toward being RADIO READY.

The mastering job that we will do for you can be the difference between success and failure in the very competitive music industry. Let Outer Limit give you the edge over your competitors.

If you’re ready to have your CD mastered, check out our mastering rates and guidelines today to submit your order.

If you don’t know the power of mastering and would like a sample, you can send us a song that we’ll master a portion of FOR FREE with no obligation. We’re very confident that you’ll love what you hear and come right back for more.

There’s no reason NOT to give us a try. We’ll send a sample back after working on your music, and if you’re not fully satisfied, we’ll refund 100% of your money.

Programming Formats

To eliminate all delays in mixing your songs, we require that you send us separate folders for each song with everything we need in each folder. The format MUST be .wav or .aiff files at either 44.1k or 48k, or in a pinch, high-quality mp3s at 320k or above.

You should also disable all automation, plugins, and effects. There is one exception to this; if an effect is one that was used to CREATE the sound or give it its character, leave that on. I need the flexibility to recreate and increase the quality of reverbs, delays, EQ, compression, etc., but if you’ve used a flanged sine wave to create a bass line, or a crazy arpeggiator that I couldn’t possibly know about, leave that on. When in doubt, give me a dry one AND one with effects. That way all of our bases are covered.

Every program has a very simple way to render each track to a separate file and once you learn it, it will be very quick and easy for every time after that.

CAUTION: Depending on your program, some of these processes will change your file IF YOU SAVE THE CHANGES. Don’t do that. If you tell a program to reset all effects and then save it, you may have to remix. There are two very simple ways around that. The first is: Don’t Save. The second is to do a quick Save As when you first open your song and name it “Next Hit to Outer Limit” or something like that. This way your original file remains exactly as it was.

Pro Tools

Bring up your song, “Next Hit.”
Bring up the editing window so that you can see every single sound file that’s used.
Marquee select from the very end of the last song to the very beginning across all tracks.
Click on Edit in the top menu, then “Consolidate Clip.”
Go to your “Audio Files” folder for “Next Hit” and sort by date.
Select everything that was created just a minute ago and drag into a new folder.
Send that folder to me.

Samplitude

Bring up your song, “Next Hit.”
Bring up the editing window so that you can see every single sound file that’s used.
On the right hand side of the mixer in the master bus section, click Reset, then Stereo.
Click on File in the top menu, then “Track Bouncing.”
Under Routing, select Master. Under Horizontal, select From VIP start to last object. Under Vertical/Special functions, select All Audible Tracks Individually (Multitrack Bounce). Under Generate, select Create New Audio File. Under Format, select Wave, 24-bit, and 48000.
After hitting OK, create a new folder labeled “Separate Tracks for “Next Hit” by (your name).”
Send that folder to me

Logic

Bring up your song, “Next Hit.”
Click on File, Export, All Tracks as Audio Files.
Check “New Folder” and “Bypass effect plug-ins” to save the dry files in one folder. Also select 44.1k or 48k and .wav files in this section.
Click the save button to export.
Send the generated files to me.

Reason

Bring up your song, “Next Hit.”
Set up the Left and Right locators at the start and end of what you want exported.
Solo the first channel while bypassing the effects.
Select File, Export Loop As Audio File.
Navigate to a new folder and label it.
Hit Save, then select 44.1k or 48k and at least 16-bit.
Hit OK.
Repeat 3-7 for all separate tracks.
Send the entire folder to me.

FL Studio

Bring up your song, “Next Hit.”
On the mixer, mute all unused tracks and turn off all effects.
Click File, Export, .wav file and make sure that 44.1k or 48k is selected.
Choose destination folder
Check “Split by mixer track”
Click Export.
Send the resulting folder to me.

Garage Band

Bring up your next song, “Next Hit.”
Disable all automation, plugins, etc.
Solo the first track and select “Export Song to Disk” from the Share pull-down menu.
Make sure that the Compress box is left unchecked, be sure the files are set to 44.1k or 48k .wav files, click Export, and name the file according to the solo track’s contents.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all tracks are exported.
Send the resulting folder to me.

Audacity

Bring up your next song, “Next Hit.”
Select “Export Multiple” from the File menu.
Set Export Format to .wav, 44.1k or 48k, Split Files Based On Tracks, and Name Files Using Label/Track Name.
Export.
Send the resulting folder to me.

Other Programs

Google “Exporting separate tracks in (your program).
Follow the instructions.
Send the resulting folder to me.

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