How to sequence an album for best results
Perfecting your song order when you sequence an album can mean the difference between a great artistic statement and a nice mixtape. Read the post.
Audio Mastering
Features a collection of articles from the Disc Makers blog that relate to music mastering, including advice from post-production engineers from the SoundLab at Disc Makers.
The Indie Music Minute’s greatest hits
Here are three of our most popular Indie Music Minute videos so far, tackling the topics of being your own record label, mixing vs. mastering, and getting a mechanical license for YouTube. Read the post.
CDs just sound better
I listen to a lot of music and listen to a lot of streaming when I drive or while I travel — and I also listen to vinyl. And while I love all of it, when I want the best audio quality, nothing sounds as good as a CD. Read the post.
Why indie musicians make CDs [Infographic]
Independent artists rely on the tangible media that is the music CD. As a physical representation of their hard work, a means of increasing revenue, and to establish their brand, independent musicians use CDs in ways major label artists don’t. Read More.
Actively test – and improve – your listening skills
Making decisions that improve the quality of your final product – based on what you’re hearing – is the basic skill underlying all successful music production. Here are some strategies for improving your listening skills. Read More.
Introduction to Audio Mastering
In our July Disc Makers Twitter chat (#DMchat), Brian Lipski, mastering engineer and manager of The SoundLAB, gave us an introduction to audio mastering for musicians of all genres. Read More.
Mastering Gear and The SoundLAB at Disc Makers
Do you have questions about what mastering engineers do and how they achieve their results? This introduction to the mastering gear in The SoundLAB gives you a glimpse into our mastering suites and the gear we use to make your music sound great. Read More.
Stereo width and audio mastering
Using stereo widening plug-ins in audio mastering to try to expand your mix’s stereo width won’t sound natural and could cause major issues with your finished track. Read more.
Avoid these common mistakes to get the most from audio mastering
Supplying audio files in compressed formats or applying heavy limiting or compression during mix down can compromise your master and negatively impact your audio mastering results. Read more.
Audio mastering basics for your home studio
If you focus too much of your work on a single instrument in a complex arrangement, you likely will miss the fact that even if you have improved the sound of that one instrument, everything else may have been impacted negatively. Get the mix you want, mix down to a stereo file, and then perform mastering as a separate last step. Read more.
Audio mastering for vinyl
If the music program is sibilant overall, the audio can be cut at a lower amplitude, which can help with the distortion caused by the high frequency information. The result, though, is a vinyl record that’s at a lower level, and the surface noise will be more prominent – not to mention, it’s not going to be comparable to other vinyl albums. Read more.
Wax is back – and the vinyl record revival is good news for indie artists
Vinyl record sales are 26% from last year, and this vinyl record revival can be a sales driver for independent artists. According to Dan Faughnder of Sledding With Tigers, “Once we announced that our first vinyl record was in the pipeline, we received enough pre-orders to break even on the pressing cost before we got them from the plant.” Read more.
From mastering audio to manufacturing: the steps in CD production
The process of transforming your musical ideas into a finished product you can share and sell begins with your audio recording sessions and continues through to the delivery of your packaged CDs or vinyl records. The choices you make at each step affect the quality of your final product, so familiarizing yourself with this process at the earliest stages will help you produce the best possible results. Read more.
‘Tis The Season (To Sell CDs)
The holiday season, especially the golden month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, is the most lucrative time of the year for retail sales. As an independent musician, it can be a time for you to move a ton of product – professionally manufactured CDs, merch, and more. There are many ways to take advantage of this time of the year, and our new guide answers questions about how to prepare your order and make your new release something special for the holidays.
Read more and download your FREE PDF.
Audio Mastering – The Mysterious Post-Production Art Form
The primary goal of audio mastering is fairly simple: prepare a recording for distribution and ensure it sounds better going out than it did coming in. Read more.