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Table of Contents

• Transfers
• Rates
• Transfer Formats
• Mastering

Our rates vary on the type of work, the length of the job, and our interest in the project. What does that mean? For basic jobs, we have set rates posted below, but if your job doesn't fit one of the catagories, then you'll have to contact us for an estimate.

Transfers are where a recording is made from one medium (for example, a two-track reel-to-reel tape recorded at 7 IPS) and transferred to another (say, digitally recorded onto a computer and then burned onto a CDR.) Almost all transfers end up on CDR, since it's by far the most common and inexpensive digital medium.

Transfers are $25 per album and $35 for a full 90-minute cassette (contact us for other format) for a straight transfer, original to digital/CD, if they're of average length. Straight CD copies sound awful because every little click and crackle and the LP "hiss" stands out hugely once it's on CD. All equipment used for your originals are highly maintained in-house and serviced regularly by Portland finest, Inner Sound Electronics Service. Please see our Transfer Equipment page for all details.

If you want the audio cleaned up (hiss removed, pops and clicks removed) Iwe offer over two dozen custom-written settings for expensive, dedicated software that's made to do this specifically, and the cost is $35 per album and $45 per cassette.

Lastly, we offer normalization / DC bias adjustment / mastering so that the CD doesn't sound "quiet" like an album. Full mastering for each on top of noise reduction with compression to bring it up to "CD levels" is $45 per album and $55 per cassette.Please contact use for other formats, which you can find a complete list of formats we do.

Every transfer includes 2 CDR copies of as many CDRs are needed for the audio (usually four sides fit on a single CDR). Postage is an extra $2 if mailed, or no cost delivered on receipt of payment. Payment must be made up-front on all work.

Multiple copies of the results are priced depending on exactly what you need (just CDR copies, or with cases, booklets, etc.) and would have to be worked out per order. We can do job cost estimates if you need more than 2 copies, just let us know what you need.

What different formats can we transfer? Quite a few, really. Here's just some of the few:

• 33, 45 and 78 RPM vinyl records
• Two-track stereo or mono reel-to-reel 1/4" tapes at 7, 3.5, 1.75 IPS
• Normal or hi-bias audio cassettes
• Edison-style or acetate discs
• Magnetic wire spools

If it's not on that list, that doesn't mean we can't do it. In many cases we're able to rent or borrow various gear (DAT, 15 IPS two-track, four-track cassettes, 8-track tapes, etc.) provided you're willing to pick up the rental tab if we go that route. If a project is big enough, some times we're willing to purchase the gear if you'll cover the usual rental fee.

Our standard rate for transfers are $25/hour, minimum two hours. For the most part, it takes about an hour to transfer 45 minutes of material, but this can vary a little. We have a variety of gear we use but in some cases might have to rent as mentioned above.

The best thing to do is contact us about your project and we can give you a quick estimate of how much it would cost. The more information you provide, the better the estimate will be.

Mastering is the final step in preparing a recording for duplication and release. It's a matter of processing the entire recording to make it sound as good as possible for the given medium(s) it will be distributed on (such as a CD). We use two different commercial mastering packages that we know very well and have written quite a few custom presets for ourselves. Both work in the digital domain. Please see the mastering section of the FAQ for more details.

If you have a finished CD that's already sequenced (songs in the order you want, with pauses/countdowns between tracks at the length and where you want them) and just need a final mastering run made, that will run $100 plus materials and postage ($5-10).

We can also provide two different mastering runs using both types of software for $150 plus expenses.

If the music has not been sequenced (e.g. you are just sending tracks as separate files, in no particular order or in something other than Audio CD format) then we'll have to create a cuesheet for you. This will run between $20-50 depending on how well you communicate what you want to use. Sending very specific notes will keep the price low, so we can't emphasize this enough.

If any of the tracks need to be EQ'ed, filtered, noise or hiss-reduced, etc. then that will add to the hours. Usually a track can be processed in somewhere between 30-60 minutes, depending on how much work it takes. If just a few tracks need work we bill by the hour, and if it's an entire project we can bid a lower rate in doing the whole thing.

Unless your needs are fairly straight-forward as above, the best thing to do is contact us and we can provide an estimate. The more information you provide, the better the estimate and the quicker the turn-around time, so being specific about what you need helps. If you just send a bunch of random tracks and want them all fixed up, it'll take some work and will can easily run anywhere from $300-$1000 or more, but it depends on what you need, and if it's a big project, as said we can bid the whole thing lower as we'll be doing it all at once.

Please feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions.