#printspecs

[t3chnym]

Custom J-card wip!

I’ve been listening to cassettes recently and I wanted to record Plastic Beach on cassette. Sure, I could buy the official one, but I’d rather customize my own cover and order the songs in my preference. So, my plan was to originally draw my own art, but when I saw the format of the official cassette I really liked that idea, so I went with it. I found a high quality image of the nighttime cover, and stretched the sides a bit to accommodate the template size I’m using. I added the text, the track list, then I was pretty much done with the outside.

For the inside, I grabbed a scene from the Melancholy Hill video and added the Side A/Side B list on the inside as well. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to actually do the double sided print in the final product, but I’d really like to. Here’s what I have so far, and I’ll post better pictures once I have it all printed!

Also, for the j-card templates, I used this website! They have multiple kinds of templates that’ll be really useful depending on what you want to do!

https://www.duplication.ca/printspecs/cassette-cover-templates.htm

[harrisdesignconcepts]

Recently, a potential client stated that they’ve seen a lot of our overall work but didn’t remember seeing any cover designs. Can HDC design covers? Um, YES WE CAN! #harrisdesignconcepts #bobthebuilder #printdesign #packagedesign #typography #printlayout #printspecs #designprojects #coverdesign #customgraphics #type #hdc #designlife #customprint #designsolutions #showyourwork #churchgraphics #getyourshineon #designforlife #jaxartist

[dbcreepr-blog]

Mastering Update & Distribution

Mastering Update

Despite being informed that my tracks would take approximately two and a half weeks to be mastered, Dave from Imperial mastering contacted me three days later with a finished product for me to listen to.

After receiving an MP3 of the masters to test the quality of the final product, they were listened to in three separate environments in order to gain a better perspective into how the album sounds, and if this sound is consistent (Katz, 2015). These environments consisted of Studio 5, a sound treated room with a pair of Adam A5x’s, Sennheiser Headphones, and KRK Rokit 6’s in my bedroom. In each setting, the album sounded great, and for the most part encapsulated what was hoping to be gained  through the mastering process, whilst still retaining the sonic details that defined the characteristics of the project. 

The only noticable downside is that some unwanted distortion has come from some of the vocal samples used, but this is due to the samples that were taken from low quality MP4’s of old movies, meaning that these issues were more than likely already present and just became noticeable after the mastering process. This element should have been addressed and explored further. during the mixing process.

After I confirmed I was happy with the work, and did not see any need for revisions, Dave sent my the entirety of my project which consisted of the MP3’s, Wavs suitable  for cassette duplication and wavs for digital release. 

Dealing with Dave was an easy and friendly process, and his offer to share my project once it’s released was a nice gesture. He will definitely be considered in mastering future projects 

The reason for these slightly alternative versions of the masters is due to certain requirements in and restrictions presented by streaming services such as Apple Music & Spotify (Schorah and Inglis, 2017). There are similar factors that also need to be taken into account when mastering music for an analogue format such as tape (Katz, 2015).

Distribution

Although in the original proposal it was stated that the digital release of Wolrd Unknown would be solely on Bandcamp, the decision was made to distribute the project on all major platforms, due to the additional exposure that this is likely to provide.

Taking the advice from friends who distribute their music on large streaming platforms, alongside comparing various distributors such as Tunecore, and DittoMusic, I came to the conclusion to use the website Distrokid. It allows you to distribute your music across all major streaming platforms, and costs $39.00 a year, letting the artist keep 100% of any royalties made.

I signed up for a ‘Musician Plus’  account, which allows me to pre upload music and set a release date along with a list of other benefits that can be seen below 

In order to begin organising distribution, I  have planned to meet up with Lilcattgod, the artist who helped design the artwork for World Unknown, and reformat the albums artwork into dimensions that are suitable for digital distribution, which is approximately 1500x1500 pixels (ReverbNation Blog, 2014) , alongside a format that is suitable for the  cassette prints, which consists of at least 300 pixels per inch  (Duplication.ca, n.d.)

References

Duplication.ca. (n.d.). AUDIO CASSETTE COVER TEMPLATE DOWNLOADS. [online] Available at: https://www.duplication.ca/printspecs/cassette-cover-templates.htm [Accessed 7 Apr. 2019].

Katz, R. (2015). Mastering audio. 4th ed. Burlington: Focal Press, pp.263-271.

Katz, R. (2015). Mastering audio. 4th ed. Burlington: Focal Press, pp.197-211.

ReverbNation Blog. (2014). Digital Distribution Checklist: Getting Your Release Ready for iTunes, Spotify, and More | ReverbNation Blog. [online] Available at: https://blog.reverbnation.com/2014/11/14/digital-distribution-checklist-getting-your-release-ready-for-itunes-spotify-and-more-3/ [Accessed 7 Apr. 2019].

Schorah, J. and Inglis, S. (2017). Mastering For Streaming Services |. [online] Soundonsound.com. Available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/mastering-streaming-services [Accessed 7 April. 2019].

[cmljmuhyperspace]

Some vinyl nets