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My new pair of QSC K12’s arrived at noon on Monday Sept 19.  How cool!!  I quickly set them up in my studio and played my Korg Kronos through them to find the optimum settings for me.

I was very impressed with the sound quality and the design.  Very nice is the weight, only 41 lbs. each. The tote bags I ordered were so cool.  Very easy to get the cabinets in and out of them.

For me the best sound was to use them in the vertical position behind me about 2.5 feet apart and up off the floor (on milk crates).  By they way, did I mention they are LOUD?  Very loud, which is good because there is lots of headroom.  I found what I thought would be the loudest setting I’d ever use and packed them up for my gig that night.

OK, why did I say they arrived just in time?

OMG, my gig was in downtown LA at a club called The Vault with the band CHICO.  We had never played there before.  It was a Monday night and a private party for some company.  The club was standing room only!  Wow, it was so much like the iconic Studio 54 in NYC complete with a house sound system for the DJ (and for the band) that was, in my opinion, way overkill for the room.  I thought I’d hit a time warp!

I had to play my QSC K12’s 2x louder than I had previously thought would be the loudest!

So, they worked like a charm and I could hear myself!

I’m looking forward to the next gig to hear them at a more reasonable volume!

(This is what I send people that want me to master their recording)

A quick summary of Mastering is:

1) putting the songs in the correct order

2) making them sound better than the mix and sound like they aren’t from different times and studios (if possible) using eq, compression, and other effects

3) getting the level of each song to be roughly the same

4) encoding the CD with whatever data is wanted to be added (song titles,  Performer/songwriter, ISRC codes, etc)

5) creating a DDP image file (recommended) or for longer CD’s, a PM-CDR for the plant to use to duplicate your CD.

What I need is:

required

1) song titles (exact spelling please)

2) the finished mixes in 24 bit .wav or.aif format with the peaks levels between -6 and-3 db (if possible)

(you can give them to me on CD or bring me a hard drive or give me an FTP site)

3) order of songs

4) Performer/songwriter

optional but recommended

1) Name of Record Company (if any)

2) how much space between songs (normal is 2 seconds)

3) ISRC code for each song

4) UPC/EAN Code for the whole CD (if you have one)

Definitions and resources

1)  DDP – Disc Description Protocol

CD pressing plants can handle many different formats but in practice a DDP Image File proves the most reliable form of transfer to the plant.

PM-CDR – Pre-master compact disc writeable

(I make this for you)

2)  The ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the international identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings. Each ISRC is a unique and permanent identifier for a specific recording, independent of the format on which it appears (CD, audio file, etc) or the rights holders involved. Only one ISRC should be issued to a track, and an ISRC can never represent more than one unique recording.

ISRCs are widely used in digital commerce by download sites and collecting societies. An ISRC can also be permanently encoded into a product as its digital fingerprint. Encoded ISRC provide the means to automatically identify recordings for royalty payments.

https://usisrc.org/(S(5bxc0fqhsx1kif3kfmjvo245))/index.aspx  (link to where to go to get your codes)

3)  UPC (Universal Product Code)

EAN (originally “European Article Number”, but now renamed ”International Article Number” even though the abbreviation has been retained)

http://ezupc.com/?gclid=CJ2gtt6m6aICFRX_iAodNk0Yvg  (link to get your UPC/EAN code)

OK, so I’m guilty of using a play on words (you know the song “Teach Me Tonight”)

Anyway, in this blog category  I will talk about teaching, students, etc….

For questions related to my books, please use the Q&A blog category.

Hi!

Composing is such a vast subject!  There is the creative side, the business side, the technical side.  All these things are fascinating to me and I will be talking about them in this blog category.

Hello!

This blog category is all about the wonderful world of recording.   I will share my tips & tricks, my experiences as well as humorous antidotes.

Hello!

This blog category is gonna be about my adventures as a live performer.  There are often funny things that occur on my gigs as well as wonderful aesthetic moments.  I will talk about these and other related topics.

Enjoy!