If you’ve poured everything you have into creating a piece of music that you care passionately about, it can be incredibly tough to get it over the finishing line.

There is always something you can change, tweak or add, and there are countless stories of artists who have found finishing a piece almost impossible.

At one point it looked like democracy would arrive in China before Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy album appeared, while Lee Mavers of The La’s was so intent on chasing perfection that, despite their debut album needing three-years and half a dozen world-renowned producers, he still wasn’t happy with the final release and immediately disowned it.

So, how do you ensure you don’t fall into the trap of chasing a sound or feeling that will always be just out of reach?

There’s no easy answer but collaborating with people who know what they’re doing and whose opinions you trust is a great place to start.

Online mastering allows anyone to get their music mastered at Abbey Road Studios, meaning you can have the expert ears of our engineers get your music sounding great.


Simon Gibson has more than 30 years’ experience as a mastering engineer at Abbey Road and has worked with the biggest names in music. In 2009 he was trusted to remaster all The Beatles’ studio albums – and they know a thing or two about working with the best.

“There is a huge element of trust needed from any artist who gives us their music to master,” says Simon.

“As a musician I understand this can be really challenging – you’ve put everything into this music and then you pass it over to someone else at the very last stage. Artists are giving over music they’ve spent weeks, months or even years creating, and are trusting us to make it sound as good as it possibly can.

“However, mastering is an essential part of the process and having a professional engineer give an objective opinion on your music is incredibly valuable.

“I’ve trained my ears to analyse the music rather than simply sit and listen to it and I know what good sounds like. We have incredible facilities, and we always do our very best to do justice to the hard work people have put into their music.”

“It’s a real privilege to be trusted with music that people have worked so hard on and it’s not something I take lightly.”

Simon is just one of the engineers who is available for the online mastering of your music and can be booked via the Abbey Road online portal.

Learn more about Abbey Road online mastering and why our engineers are trusted by the biggest and best.