(See Mastering FAQ &  Mastering Format FAQ)

Clarity. Impact. Power. Volume. Detail. If these are attributes you want emphasized in your music, mastering is the answer. Simply, mastering is the process that sonically maximizes balance, volume and musicality, turning finished audio mixes into a polished, professional sound that will bring out everything possible from the music you worked so hard to create.

The Playground gives artists at every stage of development access to world-class mastering. Our goal is to elevate the standards for recorded sound, and our reputation is built on delivering results to our clients.  Keith Cleversley has 20 years of live sound experience that he brings with him into the studio and into the masters he creates to give you something powerful and uniquely detailed, often making masters better than you imagined.

Equipment / Spaces / Sounds
 
We've finished the massive upgrade of the studio (focusing on mastering, but still quite capable of tracking), which includes even more deliciously warm and/or crystal clear analog toys designed solely to fatten and/or clean up mixes.  We've got a fully capable and sweet sounding SSL Matrix mixing/mastering console, the latest versions of the best mastering hardware and plug-ins available, including the WEISS ADC 2, the Waves Multimaximizer that practically takes its own computer to run, and the award-winning Massey Limiter for times when maximum volume without pumping is what matters most, as well as the ears and experience to use each one of them to their full potential.

Not least important are the custom-built loudspeakers and subwoofers that not only provide vivid detail, but they also can crank louder than ear-bleed levels (highly discouraged), while retaining every nuance of every note.

Couple that with a couple of mastering engineers who are passionate about every single project that comes through the doors, while still being just $85.00/hour for mastering, and you've found a place devoted to squeezing every last drop of sound out of your source material.

Also, the studio is still just $650.00/day for tracking and/or mixing. We've still got our JH-24 and everything else that made the Playground so sought after for so many years, plus much more of everything any great studio should have.