question for those who've had records released

i haven't sent any of my tunes out to labels yet, and probably wont for a while because i'm still on the steep part of the curve, where every track i do is better than the last. i figure i ought to wait until that evens out. i don't want to look back on my first release and think, "man, i should change my name and hope nobody remembers this."

i'm pretty sure i'll know when the time is right, and things will go how they go, but in the meantime, i'm curious to hear stories of first releases. was it everything you hoped for? was it an anti-climax? was it a huge waste of time? would you do anything differently if you were starting over?

thanks in advance for your thoughts...

my first release as myself was coproduced with mark williams on real vinyl under the name 'subcyde' i still think they are good tunes but i REALLY wish i hadnt released em due to the mega-shite production.. that goes for a lot of my older releases actually - i started releasing way too soon

no way!! You did that subcyde record? I play the long side track to this day all the time, did you have anything to do with that?

My advice is don't rush into it. I see so many people these days who get Cubase or Fruity Loops and 6 months later they have three record deals and their tracks are ****in crap. I started producing in late '98 and finally started releasing stuff in...2001 or 2002, I can't remember. I had some early deals go sour around 99-early 2001 and now I am really happy because I had a lot better of an idea after a couple more years of work.

As for the early records I put out, they're not nessecarily tracks I would put out or play that much anymore but I'm still proud of them. They represented what I was about at the time and hte mastering was pretty decent. I can tell you this, the first few records for most people are kind of weird. You have to get used to hearing your levels transfer from digital domain over to vinyl. After a few releases you'll figure out what works on vinyl and what doesn't.

Agree with Dustin. First vinyls are nightmare, the mine was,. When I'm looking back it wasn't soooo terrible but there's lot of things to improve. I started to producing at 99 and first release was out at 03. Now I'm feeling more comfortable with everything, but still neverending story of studying,sound and mixing techniques and all the things which makes the tune sounding nice...

yeah, i did the subcyde stuff with mark.. the one you are talking about we did over a year later than the first one - still sounds shit tho :lol:

My first release was in 96 sound was dreadfull, most produtions were at the time anyways. U gotta remember that the technical quality of prodution as gonne up a lot.
Still when u look back U can hear all the obvious mistakes (efxs, compression, mono sounding) but at the same time it sounds raw/ fresh/ naif/ in your face... In has such untamed raw grooves that it really plays with ya!!

my 2 cents,


Z


PS_ When U got something good, that as some personality, and u have real friends that can tell you straight with no BS if the track's good or not , ... then go for it... I've never met an artist 100% happy with what he did!

Z

i have never had anything pressed but just to comment i would think that at least to some extent you never going to even out ...if your doing it right your always learning new things, getting better as time goes..there will always be new equipment and new advances in technology to increase teh quality of your stuff...
plus i would think if you hit that level of perfection youd prob get bored..
but i can understand not rushing into it which is a good idea...

yeah but there is a point you hit where your mixes are acceptable which you will never go back on. I dont like much of my older stuff but i know which of it came before that point and which came after.

some other peeps have recommended a "phased approach", which i don't really agree with, but i guess it worked for them. anyway, the suggestion was to build up a small studio that barely covers the basics, put out a couple of cheezy commercial releases (trance or garage or whatever), then spend the proceeds to upgrade your studio and move on to more serious tunes.

but the way i see it, making tunes that i'm not into, just for the money, would be no better than keeping my job and buying toys that way. besides, i have my doubts about there being any cash to be made anyway - afterall, i bet there are a million people sending crappy crap to crap labels.

cheesy records often have the kind of production you need better kit for.. and don forget it takes ages to sctually recieve the money from a record - if the record makes any money that is..

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Originally Posted by Jimfish

yeah, i did the subcyde stuff with mark.. the one you are talking about we did over a year later than the first one - still sounds shit tho :lol:

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Nah, the long side pounds away on a system quite well!

what kind of quality lose, when wav->vinyl. which freq are damaged?
how to prevent???

For us, me and my partner at the time, it was kind of a point where we felt there was some relevance of what we were doing to chime in. My feeling was that it was less the response that we got immediately (although we did get some nice change for a 1st release party @ Motor in Detroit!), but it was more that we were contributing a piece to a timeless pool of music. The piece could be missed at the drop point, or totally well recieved, but ultimately it is your first participation in an ongoing 'discussion' if you will. If your authentic self is inspired by having something valuable to say, then chime in! It will, in some form, be there forever, and a piece of history and evolution.

Obviously if you're thinking of doing it cause you just moved a kilo or u want a blowjob this is a different discussion! lol

My two cents on that one...
d

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Originally Posted by dbit

If your authentic self is inspired by having something valuable to say, then chime in! It will, in some form, be there forever, and a piece of history and evolution.

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nice one. refreshing perspective. :)

being a dj means i already have an adequate means to getting blow jobs. ;) i'm trying to do this production thing because i actually do have something to say. i just worry about the message being lost because the quality isn't there. but i suppose even with quality, it's like leading a horse to water. when i play live i have the advantage that the horses are delerious with thirst. but would the same horse buy the same water during the daylight hours????

I am in the middle of my first release. I just got the test pressing Thursday. I think over all it sounds fine, but i do wish i would have eased off on the highs a bit. I know now...IF i ever do another one...i will make sure the highs are a bit more tame. I haven't gotten to listen to it on a large system yet...only my small speakers at home. Make sure you listen to your tracks on a variety of systems. Cars, home, boom boxes, etc. And make sure it's a record you'd by in an instant if weren't your own track.

i'f u decided to be a member of BOA, you accepted a risk of getting blowjobs hihih:D

A couple of you mention that your first couple of vinyl releases weren't great because they didn't sound like you expected them to. Is that with getting them mastered to?

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Originally Posted by scotttechfunk

A couple of you mention that your first couple of vinyl releases weren't great because they didn't sound like you expected them to. Is that with getting them mastered to?

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I just typed this and lost it. shitty.

In my opinion, yes this is including getting your shit mastered. A lot of vinyl mastering houses have a somewhat cookie cutter approach to mastering, esp if your new and they may only see your work once or twice. If your music isnt geared towards there set up it can actually even come out sounding worse than before.

A lot of people I know go to more cd oriented mastering houses first (with the awareness that the material is destined for vinyl) and then to vinyl master, to make sure everything sounds great. This does however get expensive quick. Then there's the obvious techno solution, become a semi-pro masterer yourself, anthough this inolves considerable energy, time, and internal conflict IMO.

But don't, for one second think that the vinyl mastering will compensate for any and all problems with the original mix and/or premaster.

In the end, always A/B your shit with source material that you trust, and try and fix any problems in your mix upfront.

My two cents on the issue..

d
:study:

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Originally Posted by scotttechfunk

A couple of you mention that your first couple of vinyl releases weren't great because they didn't sound like you expected them to. Is that with getting them mastered to?

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Yeah. The mastering plant can only work so much magic. It takes time to figure out how well your studio Eq settings and such will transfer over to vinyl. For instance, I felt that my stuff was too heavily compressed and lacked some mid-range frequencies on my older records but with time I corrected that. There was no way a mastering plant could have really changed the overall track...they just make it sound as crisp, clear, and alive as possible. The mixdown on the producers end is extremely important. I know some guys who leave their main mixes rather dodgy and expect the mastering plant to clean it up. I disagree with that approach as I think you should make it sound as good as you possibly can before giving it over to the cutter. There are still some current things I have to overcome, but I will iron it all out with time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scotttechfunk

A couple of you mention that your first couple of vinyl releases weren't great because they didn't sound like you expected them to. Is that with getting them mastered to?

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its certainly an ongoing process finding out what will work and what doesn't on vinyl ,when you do get to the stage that your getting something cut if at all possible try to attend the cut you will learn a hell of a lot from the mastering/cutting engineer about how your stuff translates to vinyl and what you should go about doing to to ty to improve your sound.