Oct
Mike Wells Mastering moves to Los Angeles
by Mike Wells in News
Hello everyone!
After 20+ years of music industry work in the bay area, and over 10 years of mastering service in San Francisco, we are very happy to announce the relocation and opening of our new mastering facility in Los Angeles, CA.
We have posted some preliminary photos of the new space at the website. The mastering rig is fully up and running along with a few upgrades! First up is the addition of our new ATC SCM150 playback system, if you have not heard this system it is something to behold. Blazing fast, stunningly accurate, pristine translation, this system brings a new level of mastering detail to the hands of the mastering engineer. With room acoustics provided by Steven Klein of Los Angeles, this room rocks! Other additions include a Dangerous Music BAX EQ, a DW Fearn VT7 tube compressor, and a customized vintage Neumann PEa equalizer; all of which add more options of pristine accuracy and analog color to choose from.
Our new room has seen some great projects in the opening weeks, including the new Tony Sly “Sad Bear” release for Fat Wreck Chords, San Francisco artists Moonbell brought in their 2nd EP due out soon, Swedish rockers Johnny Electric bring a classic garage sound to the market, and hip hop artist EBONE 415 wrapped-up a new full length as well, just to name a few.
If you are nearing the mastering stage of your project, now is the time to call and take advantage of our Winter 2011 special pricing we are offering at our new location. Call us at 323.363.3693 to find out more. Along with our added value services like our signature Groundwork Session process, free ISRC codes, free UPC barcodes, and free integrated metadata as standard features in our mastering process, never has the independent artist and label market had access to such a rich feature set, all offered within the context of mastering.
I would like to thank each and every artist we have had the pleasure of working with in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are now an additional resource not only for mastering, but also for enhancing your promotion and touring efforts in the LA area. Ask us how we can help you! Additionally we invite everyone to give us a shout if you would like to stop by and check out our new facility.
All the very best,
Mike Wells
May
Mix Buss Compression: What are you hearing?
by Mike Wells in Tips
This article is the result of our 05/15/2010 Audio Outreach seminar held at Leo’s Pro Audio in Oakland, CA.
Our focus is for those new to audio engineering and looking to “fatten-up” their mixes with buss compression. This article takes a different slant on the subject of compression (we’re not going to talk about settings), but rather we delve into the topic of techniques to help you in learning to hear compression envelope & artifacts to help you achieve your best mix.
Apr
Is your Audio CD really playing in full Red Book fidelity?
by Mike Wells in Analysis
Introduction:
Given the standardization of CD-Recordable drives in today’s computers, combined with prevalent desktop music software (e.g.: iTunes, etc…) which default to low KPS perceptual audio encoders, it has become increasingly common to find individuals creating/copying Audio CD’s that have gone through one (or more) lossy encoding stages, often without the user realizing that their audio data has been compromised.
This paper aims to raise awareness of the issue, provide information, and links to further resources in the interest of empowering the reader to determine if their Audio CD’s are utilizing the full potential of quality within the Audio CD “Red Book” standard (Linear PCM 16-bit / 44.1kHz sr audio).
Mar
Metadata introduction and overview
by Mike Wells in Tutorials
Introduction:
Here are a few scenarios you are probably familiar with:
1) You buy a CD, bring it home and pop it into your Mac. iTunes opens and shows you all the information about the album. How did that happen?
2) You take that CD to work and pop it into your PC. Windows Media player opens, but now the album info doesn’t show. Why not?
3) You take that CD into your car, and your fancy new car stereo shows the song titles scrolling by. There it is again. How?
4) You just finished creating a CD of your band’s music, but when you put that CD into any of the above methods no information shows up. How do you get that type of info to appear for your band’s CD?
The information we’re referring to is called “Metadata” and this article will inform you as to the different types, and explain how to include metadata for your own release.
Mar
Making Reference Copies
by Mike Wells in Tutorials
Introduction:
Have you found yourself in any of these scenarios?
1) You have a CD of mixes for final review, and every band member wants a copy to hear the mix and give input.
2) You completed your mastering session, and each band member wants a copy of the final master reference CD.
3) You are waiting for your manufactured CDs to arrive, and friends/family wish to have copies of your mastered release.
To address these circumstances, the answer may seem simple: Make a playlist in iTunes, import the audio, and burn an audio CD.
Easy right? No, not quite.
While it seems easy enough, iTunes is not actually making a 1:1 copy of your reference CD, but rather it is making an approximation of the reference CD. To achieve a true 1:1 copy, the solution is to use a software application that supports the “Disc-At-Once” (DAO) protocol to create a genuine audio CD copy.
