The Masterdisk Record

A Visit to Satori Shiraishi’s “Happydom”

james@masterdisk.com — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:21:22 +0000

Satori Shiraishi may not be well known outside of Japan, but in that country he is a top composer, arranger and producer. Among his accomplishments is producing the band Orange Range (Sony-Japan) which has sold over 10 million CDs. We were lucky to get to work on Satori’s album Happydom through Scott Hull‘s longtime client [...]

A Conversation with Composer Mikel Rouse

james@masterdisk.com — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:22:22 +0000

Mikel Rouse is a multi-talented, multi-disciplinary artist who’s been a vital part of the Downtown New York scene for 30 years. He’s done so much work, and such varied work, that it’s a challenge to try to squeeze even part of it into an introduction. So here’s a real whirlwind pass through some career highlights: [...]

A Conversation about Preservation

james@masterdisk.com — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:19:00 +0000

Click here to view the Spanish version. I talked to audio engineer and preservation specialist Marcos Sueiro Bal the other day, and he mentioned that he recently completed a translation of the “bible for the preservation of audio.” It’s called TC-04 or the Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio, and is published by IASA (The [...]

An Interview with Deolinda and Nelson Carvalho

james@masterdisk.com — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:21:04 +0000

(This post is also available in Spanish.) Andy VanDette (pictured with the band in the photo to the right) has been mastering music from Portugal and Brazil for years. One of his clients is the quartet Deolinda, who are now on tour in their native Portugal, as well as the UK and Germany, until June. [...]

Susana Baca’s Afrodiaspora

james@masterdisk.com — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:45:50 +0000

(This post is also available in Spanish.) Afro-Peruvian music experienced a second revival around the time when David Byrne and Yale Evelev of Luaka Bop released the compilation album The Soul of Black Peru (mastered by Masterdisk’s Scott Hull) in 1995. The release granted world-wide recognition to artists such as Nicomedes Santa Cruz, Chabuca Granda, [...]

Our Tzadik Dreamers Winner

james@masterdisk.com — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:39:23 +0000

Back in September, thanks to John Zorn and the good folks at Tzadik, we gave away a copy of the wonderful Dreamers LP which was mastered by Scott Hull and cut here by Scott and Alex DeTurk. Here it is with our winner María Fernanda.

Masterdisk Presents: Electric Teeth/Ghost Leg

james@masterdisk.com — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:58:00 +0000

The Meeting My Ghost EP has a dark and spacey vibe, perfect for a mellow weekend or morning subway ride. Think of Portishead meets Placebo... in a dimly lit dive bar with Joy Division on the stereo. But, despite the group’s identifiable sound, this band cannot really be reduced to easy comparisons.

Getting the Most Out of Your Medium: Mastering for Vinyl in the Digital Age, Part 2

james@masterdisk.com — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:39:49 +0000

In part 2 of Alex DeTurk's Getting the Most Out of Your Medium: Mastering for Vinyl in the Digital Age, the session moves from the mastering room into the lathe room, where the particulars of disc cutting begin.

Mastered for iTunes in the News

james@masterdisk.com — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:24:53 +0000

A flurry of news activity was kicked off last week when Apple announced that they created a new Mastered for iTunes section of the iTunes store.

Getting the Most Out of Your Medium: Mastering for Vinyl in the Digital Age, Part 1

james@masterdisk.com — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:51:27 +0000

So I'm sitting down with a client friend today. He has a concept EP that he's been working on for the past couple of months, but now it's ready to go. As we sit and chat before the session I figure out he's looking to do a vinyl as well as digital release. Things just got more interesting for me.