No Age
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No Age is an experimental hardcore duo that got its start in 2006 at legendary Los Angeles punk club The Smell. The band's latest album, "Nouns," was released in May on Sub-Pop Records, garnering an unheard of 9.2/10 rating from Pitchfork Media. Lindsay Miller talked to Dean Spunt-one-half of No Age and the founder of independent record label Past Present Medium-about MTV, touring, and why he'll never leave Los Angeles. Read Here.
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Our Recent Clients
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Hans' Recent Playlist
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1. The Knux "Remind Me in 3 Days"
2. Erykah Badu "New Amerykah"
3. Calexico "Carried to Dust"
4. The Blind Boys of Alabama "Down in New Orleans"
5. The Afghan Whigs "Unbreakable"
6. Cannonball Adderley "Things Are Getting Better"
7. Mogwai "The Hawk is Howling"
8. Fucked Up "The Chemistry of Common Life"
9. David Byrne & Brian Eno "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today"
10. Doc Watson "The Essential Doc Watson (Live)"
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Musician's Resources
(Useful Links)
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 Greetings.
I hope this e-zine finds you well, still employed and making music. January was a tres busy month for us and I managed to miss both the Grammys and NAMM. Granted, I wasn't invited to either and strangely, don't feel like I missed much. Call me when one of you are there.
Our interview this month is with the LA band No Age. They showed up in a lot of music critic's "top 50" lists for 2008 and I think it's an interesting interview.
Speaking of critic's list, our poll last month regarding your favorite album of 2008 resulted in MGMT taking top honors. Santogold, Fleet Foxes and TV on the Radio tied for 2nd place. Apparently, none of you liked Vampire Weekend or Adele.
Client News: The Von Bondies new album "Love, Hate and Then There's You" (mastered by yours truly) received an excellent review by the editors of Mix Magazine.
Music News: iTunes has finally introduced a new price structure to reflect consumer demand. The new system will cost either 69 cents, 99 cents or $1.29 a song. They have also officially removed copy protection from the entire music catalog. I, for one, will not miss DRM and don't think it worked anyway.
Speaking of bad ideas... remember 6 months ago when Rick Rubin boldly announced that subscription-based music distribution was the future? Yeah, not so much. Universal and Sony Music's joint venture known as Total Music is officially over. It's an idea spawned from the days when people bought the whole album and only liked one song. Why would anyone want to return to that?
Sirius XM has been teetering on the verge of bankruptcy for a few weeks... looks like they're temporarily spared the executioner's axe thanks to a cash infusion from Liberty Media. We'll see.
Tickemaster and Livenation are planning to merge which probably means the Empire will now be able to complete construction of the Death Star. Or at the very least, ticket prices may go up. What do I know?
Touch & Go Records is no longer releasing new music or supplying distribution for labels like Merge, Jade Tree or Kill Rock Stars. For the last 29 years, T&G has introduced us to countless influential indie rock bands like Jesus Lizard, TV on the Radio, Mekons, Slint, Ted Leo, etc. They will be missed.
Good Links: Check out Bandcamp (Thanks Jeremy). It's an interesting, new and powerful music networking site. Watch the video and tell me that it's not a good idea.
Sometimes this is how I feel about new plug-ins, software updates and gear. If you're easily offended, don't click the link. Seriously. Don't do it.
R.I.P. Ron Asheton, David "Fathead" Newman, Billy Powell, Irving Bush, Hank Crawford, Lux Interior, Dewey Martin, Tom Brumley, Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez, Molly Bee, Estelle Bennett, Louie Bellson.
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Tips For Choosing CD Duplicators and Replicators
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 If I had a dollar for every time a client has asked me for a recommendation on disc dups or manufacturing, I'd have started my own CD company by now. Conversely, I've had numerous reps from these companies call me and bug me for some sort of referral/kick back deal. Here's two very good reasons why I won't be specifically recommending anybody for these services:
1) Most of these companies employ large numbers of people and are only as good as the people who work for them. I have heard of numerous occasions when one person's experience with a particular company is great, while someone else's is not. This is due largely to the fact that sales reps are the ones that interface with customers, not the guys who actually run the machines. Hence, you could very easily get a sales rep who does not understand the process, has a bad attitude, and gets your order wrong. If you don't like the person you're dealing with but dig the company, ask for somebody else. This small thing could save you a lot of headaches in the end.
2) Mastering engineers who receive kickbacks for client referrals compromise they're own integrity. Just my opinion. I firmly believe in checks and balances. If I recommend a company and something goes wrong, who's responsible and who's on your side? Those waters get murky. And only clear documentation and boundaries will resolve the matter.
So here's a few things to consider:
1) Do your homework. Know the difference between replicating and duplicating, DDP and CD audio masters, "Wet" and "Digital" printing, etc. All of these things will affect the quality and price of your project.
2) Paperwork (or email) is good and protects you in case something goes wrong. If they run your order and there's no CD text embedded in the audio files, you should be able to refer to the original work order and see whether or not you ordered it. If the company denies that there is CD text or metadata embedded in the original files, the burden is on the mastering engineer to prove it (which can easily be done).
3) Make sure you're clear about what kind of master to supply them. If they request a CD audio master (usually for duplication), don't send them a DDP disc or else you might end up with 300 data discs instead of audio CDs. DDPs are only used in manufacturing and even then, not everybody supports it. Ask.
4) Beware of the upsell. I recently had a long-time client and friend (who attended their mastering session and personally approved the masters) come back to me and say that the duplicator recommended they pay additonal fees to "maximize" their audio. The exact email message reads: "After taking a closer to listen to your material, I wanted to ask if you would like to have your audio levels maximized and evened out. We found the following correctable problem(s) with your audio: -Low Volume Level and/or levels not maximized to full potential -Uneven Volume Levels (from track to track). Huh? Master a CD that's already been mastered? I assume this companies motto is "there's a sucker born every minute." This is dishonest and I wouldn't use these guys to water my lawn.
5) Watch out for companies with lots of typos or grammatical mistakes. Please see the first five words of the quoted email message above. This is copy/pasted exactly as they sent it. I don't trust any company that can't spell or form complete sentences. They don't have to be English professors but their correspondence should be professional and precise.
That's it for now. Please chime in if you'd like to add your experience/thoughts to the fray.
Cheers,
Hans Dekline
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