News & Tech Tips

Internet Mastering Scams

10/06/2011 12:43:00

I’ve written about this before, however it is worth repeating.

It is not my intention for my blog to be negative in nature, however maybe I can help others avoid being the victim of a scam.

Once again, I spoke to a band member, who had fallen victim to an Internet mastering scam. This scam involves uploading the music to be mastered, to “studios” that advertise “discount” or “low budget” CD mastering services. The payments are made in advance. It is not unusual for deposits to be requested for services, so I am not suggesting that this was a red flag. Unfortunately the victims never hear from the “studios” again. Numerous emails receive no reply and often there is no phone contact available.

We all know there are music industry and Internet scams everywhere. Don’t become a victim of Internet fraud. Do your homework and find a mastering facility that has a long track record. Telephone the mastering studio and ask to speak to the mastering engineer. Ask questions and develop a relationship with them. A legitimate facility will be happy to speak to you and discuss the best process for mastering your project and the pricing options available.

This is your music and you have put a lot of hard work, time and money into it. This is the most important and the final stage of your music. Don’t skimp on this final step.

Song on soundtrack of HBO TV series.

07/27/2011 16:59:00

We have been providing vinyl mastering services, for LA-based, record label, KU DE TA.

One of the albums that we mastered, was the

debut album for artist Lido Pimienta, entitled “COLOR LP”.

We are happy to see that one of the songs from this album, “La Rata”, has been included on the soundtrack, of HBO’s TV series, Capadocia.

Check out the album here:

http://www.kudetalosangeles.com/Lido_Pimienta.html

What is PQ Coding?

07/18/2011 13:53:00

PQ Coding is the encoding of the track IDs and other information on your CD in the Red Book Standard. This includes the start and finish point, the total time for each track and the total length of the CD.

ISRC codes and CD text may be added at this time. This would include things like album title, song titles, artists name, date the master was created and any record label information. If you have a UPC number (the bar-code on the packaging of your CD), this also can be encoded into your master disk.

All of these features are helpful to track and identify your album or individual songs when they are uploaded and downloaded via online music servers.

All coding is added in the final stage of mastering.

If you have any questions regarding PQ codes or mastering, you may contact me at (800) 570-6656

Hope this was helpful,

Ron

Introduction

07/14/2011 12:35:00

Welcome to my News & Tech Tips page.

This will be a way for you to get to know me better.

I hope that you will enjoy the articles posted here. Many of you have the same questions or concerns regarding recording, mixing and music mastering.

It will be my pleasure to share my 30 plus years of knowledge and experience with you. I look forward to your comments.

Thank you for visiting,
Ron Leeper
Sound Affair Mastering