Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

I'm talking between say Virgin Records. 

>>>Yeah, they're a bit out of my league and generally don't do anything 
with vinyl.  See your point now, gotcha. <<<

Moonshine has enlisted several of my friends for contracts and your track 
is tighter than their stuff. 

>>One of them is named Keoki is he? :) <<<

In fact when it comes down to it many of the larger DJ's have a label they 
release under (Can we say Perfecto?) so you may even want to send acetates 
to them and have them spin em out.  I'm coming from the glass is half full 
perspective.  I have a friend who gets the rolls royce treatment when she 
spins in new york,  gets comps like you wouldn't believe, and the labels 
are smaller and willing to deal with more people. 

>>>I know the royal treatment for DJing, been spinning myself for years 
and playing the larger clubs in Chcaigo too.  Just found out I was 
selected as one of 8 DJ's to be in this weird Chicago DJ audition thing on 
June 1st for a bunch of labels and promoters.  Ministry Of Sound US, 
Balance, Pure, Relode, Spundae, and Gatecrasher US (???) will all be there 
supposedly.  I'll eb sure to wrok a couple fo my songs into the set, and 
I'll be using the XL-7 too (please don't fail me now!). <<<

Another option is to have it pressed yourself and to release comps to 
record stores and see if they'll let you sell on consignment.

>>That's plan two if no one bites.  We'll finish up the B-side, and if no 
one wants to release it then we'll do it ourselves.  I'm on quite a few Dj 
promo lists, so I'm friendly with some of the bigger distributers in the 
UK and what not (Unique, etc).  I'll let them worry about the record 
stores, and percentages.  If worse really comes to worse, I also know the 
trance and breaks buyer at Gramaphone, which is THE vinyl shop in chicago, 
so I know she'll put some in the bins for me.  For anyone just getting 
into music, this is poignant reminder that many times it's not how good 
you are, but who you know in the industry. Always act professional, you 
never know who you'll meet, and how they can help you. <<<
 
IMHO when I am talking mastering I am talking mastering houses that will 
do a full treatment on it.  Hopefully if you do have an anthem on your 
hands it will get released on a CD comp in all it's glory, plenty of CD 
DJ's out there as well.  A common complaint of mastering houses is that 
the material was over compressed ahead of time, or the quality of the 
master was so bad it took them twice as much effort to do the "Magic" to 
the track. 

>>>Understood, we're on the same page here.  If I was giving this to a 
'proper' mastering facility, they would get a copy of my final 24bit mix, 
and not the mastered version I posted and did myself. <<<

Dithering can and will make a difference if they have to do editing or 
sweetening to your track. 

>>>I use the same Apogee dithering they would use (unless they prefer 
Prism, which I can use too), but yes, they don't like getting tunes for 
mastering that already have dither noise printed. :) <<<

That's why you pay a mastering house to do what they do.  Plenty of people 
do get their own material release quality, and that in fact gets labels 
interested in them purely from a financial perspective, but it means the 
artist is spending their time and effort on the technical not the creative 
side.  A good suggestion is sending in a track your proud of along with a 
track by someone else you respect the mastering of and have a mastering 
house do their magic.  Then compare the result.  If possible ask if you 
can sit in on it and watch what they do.  From my perspective I'd rather 
get on with the music and enjoy my day.

>>>I'm one of those bizzarre people that like the technical side as much 
as th artist side.  I'm just as happy producing someone else's music or 
doing their mix as I am making my own.  I enjoy reading eqiupment manuals, 
even gear I don't own, that's how sick I am!  I've sat in a few mastering 
sessions, I used to work in studio, so I'm more than familiar with the 
(agonizingly slow) whole process of getting a CD out to market, from 
creation to promotion.   Thanx for the tips none the less!<<<<
 
rEalm