Mastering for House Music on Vinyl?

[Umlaaat]

I've got a track that I want to put out on VINYL, but need a good house that wont kill me too much.

anyone know of somebody?

its a soulful, summery, vibey track.. NOT TECHNO.

[Brad Blackwood]

Hi Umlaat. Give Paul Gold @ Vinyl Mastering a call...

[jazzius II]

The Exchange in London are the Bad Bwoys when it comes to putting 4 to the floor on vinyl......

+0044 207 482 4588

[h910]

another vote for the Exchange. I've had several projects mastered there in similar styles and they mostly sound killer.

There are quite a few ME's there and they all seem to be good but Nilz and Mike Marsh are highly recommended.

Check their credits, chances are you'll be impressed

h910

[springs]

Hey, back in the day, techno was "soulful and vibey" too! In fact early Detroit releases slaughter the house of today for soul...check them out! (Start with D. May's "It Is What It Is" or R-Tyme's "R-Theme").

Rant over - check out Frankford-Wayne Mastering (www.frankfordwayne.com)

If you really wanna pump, look up Herb Powers. He's mastered literally thousands of club records, although he's pricey. Used to work at F-W, has his own place now.

If you want cheap and dirty, but potentially very nice on a loud system, try Sound Enterprises in Detroit (although if you like the Exchange sound, or someone not basically killing your shit, you should avoid Sound Enterprises). www.soundenterprises.com. All the old records with "NSC" etched in them are from this place.

And as mentioned, loads of people use nilz @ the exchange.

Good luck!

[Jesse Skeens]

I've had a bunch of stuff done at the exchange (hooj).

Masterpiece is a ood place too, Wally C.

Jesse

[Fletcher]

Tony Dawsey [sp?] at Masterdisk in NYC did a fabuloous job on a project I did a while ago... I can recommend his work whole heartedly [and he's a great guy!! really listened to the artist's suggestions with absolutely no attitude... while making a couple of suggestions that really took the record over the top].

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by springs


If you really wanna pump, look up Herb Powers. He's mastered literally thousands of club records, although he's pricey. Used to work at F-W, has his own place now.

Herb is over at the Hit Factory.

[Thermionic]

Another vote for The Exchange here - all EAR processing with custom EAR cutter-head amps...

I've had masters from Nilz and Mike, and also own a load of 12"s / LPs they've mastered for others. I would say that Mike definitely has a more "laid back" sound compared to Nilz, suitable for LPs or maybe more jazzy stuff. Nilz cuts ultra loud (neither of them are compression fans btw) with, IMHO, second-to-none "punch". Nilz is king for club cuts I'd say. Graham is useful as well, the cuts I've had from him were more akin to Nilz - plenty of volume and punch. Horses-for-courses I'd say.

Isn't it sad that the term "techno" has become a byword for anything electronic that's soul-less and mechanical. I tend to work mainly with musicians from the jazz scene; when I play them say UR or Rhythim is Rhythim they refuse to accept it is true techno, and refer to it as "electronic jazz". I've even met NY Garage heads who buy UR thinking it's actually "electronic garage".

Does anyone remember Art Forest's "Flow" on A.L.F records? TechnoSoul...


Justin

[springs]

Thermionic, I know what you're saying! What "techno" means to me in one of the main things that makes me feel old, actually. Almost no one under 25, 30 understands what it originally was about - even that it was created (and the term coined from the Alvin Toffler "Techno Rebels" book) by African-Americans from Motown!

OK, sorry for the thread hijack! Don Grossinger is another ME to consider, I know he cut lots of club records including Salsoul Classics reissues. He may be getting used to lacquer - he used to do DMM at Europadisk in NYC. Also Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin is loved by many (probably cheaper if you're in the US than going via the Exchange, but a very different sound). A trip to a local vinyl store is illuminating - check the runout grooves for "signatures" and then listen. Nilz signs his recs "Nilz @ Exchange", "D&M" for Dubplates, "NSC" for Sound Enterprises (used to be National Sound Corp, they still use that), etc.

[DanV]

Originally posted by Thermionic

Isn't it sad that the term "techno" has become a byword for anything electronic that's soul-less and mechanical. I tend to work mainly with musicians from the jazz scene; when I play them say UR or Rhythim is Rhythim they refuse to accept it is true techno, and refer to it as "electronic jazz". I've even met NY Garage heads who buy UR thinking it's actually "electronic garage".

Justin,

Great to know you are a UR syndicate!
It really is crazy how influential yet basically unknown the whole Detroit techno scene is here in NY and I imagine the rest of the US. There is a whole crowd of people here into more recent genres of electronic dance music who wouldn't recognize "clear" or "living for the night" if it hit them in the face. I actually saw DJ Assault spin here a few months back and the turnout was truly sad with about 3 other people aside from me and my friends in the place.

As far as mastering goes - I know that Sound Enterprises are well regarded here among techno/electro labels. AFAIK - Ron over there masters all UR and Jeff Mills releases - and they have been mastering techno since the get go.

Cheers!

[Thermionic]

We're going to have to have a dedicated chat about the bastardisation of Techno soon I think! (and Disco and House (House in the Chi-town vein)). I feel embarassed to use the "T" word amongst people that don't know me...

Back on topic:

I heard that Maurizio had a custom vinyl cutting facility in Germany, with modded head amps etc. Anyone know the info?

edit: Whoever cuts for Jeff Mills is one clever engineer. Anyone recall the 8 "groove-locks" on one side release? A gimmick for sure, but pretty clever IMHO. I seem to remember asking Paul Gold and one or two others at the Blackwood forum about how they could do all those groove-locks, IIRC the concensus was it took some serious thought!

J

BTW, Dan, isn't Clear something else on a decent system! When I hear some of that late '70s / early '80s material I do wonder where the progress is today.

[Umlaaat]

well, the only decent techno that i've heard in a while was at a planet e party at wmc about 3 years ago.

i gotta say, though it was pretty sick. not really soulful, per se, but banging in a non repetitive way...

i think what it is are thing s mahap derived from techno, like trance or the like.

I dont mind techno, but it's gotta have some vibe to it. It can't be a vibeless mantra for like 15 minutes, eveen if flawlwssly produced.

BT, for example is definetly on top of his game, but as i listen to it, my 'study' mode comes on and my 'feel' mode goes out...

it's gotta convey some kind of emotion, which is why house (and it's derivitives) is more of that catalyst...

as well as (certain) broken beat stuff. a la Jazzanova, Bugz in the Attic (some of their stuff), etc..

[Magnus]

Anyone recall the 8 "groove-locks" on one side release? A gimmick for sure, but pretty clever IMHO. I seem to remember asking Paul Gold and one or two others at the Blackwood forum about how they could do all those groove-locks, IIRC the concensus was it took some serious thought!

What's a groove-lock?

Thanks,
Magnus

[DanV]

A lock-groove or groove-lock is a portion of a record that loops over and over instead of progressing to the next groove.

[springs]

Ron Murphy did a lot of innovative cuts. He apparently invented the playable lock groove (at least in the techno world). He also cut something called 'loops' that has (seriously) like 30 lock-grooves per side. I did a couple of those loops for fun and they really sounded nice.

On the more experimental tip, he also cuts inside-out (from center label), elliptical cuts (rather than perfect circle) and even double grooves (you put the needle in one groove, it plays one song, and in another groove for another song - and this is all on one side! Very cool yet extremely annoying to play!)

I stopped using Ron a long time ago but I salute him as an innovator.

[vartan k]

Originally posted by jazzius II
The Exchange in London are the Bad Bwoys when it comes to putting 4 to the floor on vinyl......

+0044 207 482 4588

true! even Drum N Bass

[Vari-Mu]

Originally posted by Thermionic


Back on topic:

I heard that Maurizio had a custom vinyl cutting facility in Germany, with modded head amps etc. Anyone know the info?

Maurizios' place is Dubplates and Mastering in Berlin. I don't know about the gear but they do a great job. There is usually a three week waiting list, but worth it IMHO...they also do a great job on acetates...plus they can cut you a 10 inch...which is cool in itself.

Jazzanova ( and in fact the whole Sonar Kollektiv crew) use Bo Kondren at Calyx also in Berlin. He also does a good job but is far less interventionist. If you want the bottom end to bump, dub stylee, Dubplates N' Mastering are the guys in mainland Europe IMO.


Best,

D. Toner

[Thermionic]

Thanks for the info Vari-mu, I might have to give Maurizio's facility a try one day.

30 locked grooves on one side? How on earth would you calculate that?

I saw a 2-track per side Kevin Saunderson release many years ago where the outer track played inwards, but the inner track outwards.

edit: Just found the site for Dubplates+Mastering in Berlin.

Taken from: http://www.dubplates-mastering.com/faq.html

2.9 How should material for loops (lock grooves) be prepared?
The tempo must be exactly 133 1/3 bpm in order to fit a 4/4 bar onto a 33 1/3 rpm loop -
that is the loop must be 1,8 seconds long.
The tempo must be exactly 180 bpm in order to fit a 4/4 bar onto a 45 rpm loop -
the loop must be 1 1/3 seconds long.
We need a piece of the looped material , about 15 seconds long.
We can also prepare the material, if required.

Cheers,
Justin

[vartan k]

my buddy put out a 12" with 100 lock grooves!
www.rrrecords.com

[ttauri]

Originally posted by Thermionic
I saw a 2-track per side Kevin Saunderson release many years ago where the outer track played inwards, but the inner track outwards.

I'm just worried about the effect these wacky pressings will have on my psyche when I'm old and infirm. I see myself in the nursing home, spending hours trying to play one normally, cursing at the nurses for having done something to my records.

Peece,
T. Tauri