Mark Hawkins "The Doomsday Clock" LP FREE DOWNLOAD

[DVNT]

I'd like to think that net labels, well digital labels (the ones you pay for releases with) get tunes mastered. I belong to other music forums and they discussed this recently. Whilst yes it is piss easy to just release your own MP3s. The quaility of production and mastering (not in your case) has dropped. There is now so much digital music. Some is up to an excellent standard. Some is not. It's far too easy for a person who makes music, but doesn't know how to master it, which is a different skill, and then releases it. Now this produces a drop in quality control, which you didn't get with old music made for 12" release. Because not long ago, it cost a lot of buy audio hardware and to get things pressed on vinyl. Which meant that only the quality stuff was really mastered and put out there. Which I guess explains why older releases become timeless, the quality is up there to start with.

Ultimately this means from a music collector/buyer POV we just have to look further and deal thru more shit.

I know a few net labels and the people who run them (free digital labels). Such as Zymogen.net and Myuzyk.net. Both of which have tunes mastered properly and provide excellent artwork etc...

I won't get into my personal issue about not getting into the music as much when it is just a file on your computer, rather than a spinning disk.

:)

[crime]

I'd like to think that net labels, well digital labels (the ones you pay for releases with) get tunes mastered. I belong to other music forums and they discussed this recently. Whilst yes it is piss easy to just release your own MP3s. The quaility of production and mastering (not in your case) has dropped. There is now so much digital music. Some is up to an excellent standard. Some is not. It's far too easy for a person who makes music, but doesn't know how to master it, which is a different skill, and then releases it. Now this produces a drop in quality control, which you didn't get with old music made for 12" release. Because not long ago, it cost a lot of buy audio hardware and to get things pressed on vinyl. Which meant that only the quality stuff was really mastered and put out there. Which I guess explains why older releases become timeless, the quality is up there to start with.

Ultimately this means from a music collector/buyer POV we just have to look further and deal thru more shit.

I know a few net labels and the people who run them (free digital labels). Such as Zymogen.net and Myuzyk.net. Both of which have tunes mastered properly and provide excellent artwork etc...

I won't get into my personal issue about not getting into the music as much when it is just a file on your computer, rather than a spinning disk.

:)

Well, yeah, bang on point really...

I have nothing against net labels per se, so long as it's quality music. I just had a few people ask me why I didn't release this on a net label, and I just didn't see the point..

And yeah, would be much nicer to have it on 2 slabs of vinyl, but that's just the reality right now ;)

[MITA]

reality is what you make of it~ :P























arghh.forgot you stopped pushing it ( :























p.s.satisfaction when goals acheeved can
kill the will (regarded to said 'bout djaxup).



















no?

[crime]

seems that de:bug picked up on it:




http://www.de-bug.de/news/4163.html

[eyeswithoutaface]

Nice keys was written after my trip to southern Russia in december 2006, and is personally one of my favourites, glad you are digging it as much as I have been.. this album was sent out to many different labels, but unfortunately in the current climate a suitable home for it could not be found. I did have the possibility of breaking it down into 12"s, but I really didn't want to lose the whole concept of the album as I originally conceived it..

To be honest, the past year of trying to sell this album has led to a lot of soul searching and re-evaluation of where I am going with releasing music. I couldn't move on until I saw this album come out in one way or another, I put so much work into it, so it was pretty disheartenening when I thought it was the best I could possibly do to find that there was no interest from any labels whatsoever.. so this is why it's here now, online...

This whole process made me think that I'm not interested in trying to be part of the popularity contest that the techno/electronic music scene has become, with producers conforming just to get releases out, to gain popularity, and get more gigs, you know, it kind of seems to me that the whole point about quality releases, and variation in style has been somewhat lost in a quest to chase current trends and record sales..

I'm not playing that game anymore, I have nothing to prove, I'm lucky enough to have had over 30 vinyl releases including 6 on Djax-Up-Beats, a legendary label which I am honoured to have been involved with, so now I'm of the thinking that I will only release on vinyl again if a label comes to me asking..

I'm far to tired out to go chasing for things these days, and the way things are looking, I'm thinking that we will see more of this in future, more free releases from known artists who wish to keep their vision of a release intact...

and I'm certainly not going to make hard techno just so I can get stuff on to vinyl, if I had a quid for every time a label owner asked me to make "another record like ctrl alt delete" I would be paying to put the album out on vinyl myself!!

get this man a beer... bloody brilliant way of articulating one of the main problems with, what i personally think, is modern technos overall decline. I started thinking this way myself about 2 years ago, funnily enough a very short space after i'd played my biggest gigs to date, and just before i had my biggest release to date. I have since knocked back labels on a ratio of about 5:1 , and that's no exageration, as the amount of labels who just want "a record like Registry Check" just got ****ing plain annoying. Im not bragging either here by the way before anyone jumps on it, it's stating facts. Unfortunately, in a scene like this, alot of people just want the same thing, over and over and over, for various reasons but the main being sales. That record sold really, really well for me, got played by all the big guys like Hawtin, Dan Bell etc and other labels knew this.

The funny thing is, im only about 7 releases into my "career" as it were, and i stopped djing at a level i know alot of people, unfortunately, will probably never get too, but i worked hard for it, to get into the scene and into a scene i thought was for me, but it turned out it wasnt, i just wanted to be in my dark studio making music, and allowing other people the hassle of putting it out there and worrying about wether it sells for their label or not. Dont get me wrong, i always wish any label im working with to do well, but at the end of the day, its not my fault if it doesnt, if their happy with the music ive done for them and want to risk releasing it, that's up to them as label owners.

i think having a job does give you back such a refreshing view on making music, as knowing that what you do HAS to sell to put food on the table is just too risky, worrying and soul destroying to me. I will always have a full time job until the music im doing, be it electronic, acoustic, whatever can actually support me, if of course that happens. If it does, great, if it doesnt, thats great too.

bit of a lengthy reply but that post sparked off a thought inside me that i'd had for a while and is totally on the same wavelength of myself right now. **** putting a record out every other month just to keep your name on peoples tongues or to scrape some more gigs in.

This album is wikid mate, absolutely great, really nicely produced. And free. That is wikid, nice one

[mattboyslim]

awesome album mate. love it

[robin m]

This is really kind of bittersweet to read, on the one hand your attitude deserves nothing but respect (as does the music I might add) - on the other it's a f*cking sad commentary that someone with your originality and talent has had to resort to giving an album away...

Whatever, thanks for the great music and again massive respect for the attitude - fingers crossed that karma comes around and you find a few grand in a wheelie bin or something

[MITA]

exactly my point.but i see Mark skipped it and paste the de bug pickup on ethe album~ anyhow nice1

[crime]

i think having a job does give you back such a refreshing view on making music, as knowing that what you do HAS to sell to put food on the table is just too risky, worrying and soul destroying to me. I will always have a full time job until the music im doing, be it electronic, acoustic, whatever can actually support me, if of course that happens. If it does, great, if it doesnt, thats great too.

I think the only way you can really live from music is if you've got a whole load of different projects going on, not just producing techno, but being in a band, running a studio, doing sound design etc etc, trying to earn a living purely from doing electronic music is nigh on impossible unless you've got your roots going back many years to involvement in clubs releases and labels like 10 years ago.. and even then it can get pretty boring only having music in your life... sure, it's damn important when you're working some job and it's your outlet or hobby at the weekend.. try living it for 24/7 for a few years and you start to find that you want other things in your life....

I think releasing my album this way is definitely pushing things on in some way, as the music is out there, people are digging it, and to me this is the most important thing, yes, maybe because I had the opportunities I had before I'm certainly less hungry to get stuff out there, unless I believe it's really good.. unfortunately when it comes to pressing vinyl I don't have the money necessary to do that, I already threw a lot of money at a label once, so I simply can't afford to do it....