Marketstall Recording

(A blog of ideas for DIY & home recordists, and some studio things too)

[markmarketstall]

Got these old East German RFZ preamps and they sound MINT but the enclosure is a real notch job. Anyone know where I can get them rehoused in a nice box? Something like my sketch (apologies, I have no tech drawing skills 😕)

[markmarketstall]

Got these old East German RFZ preamps and they sound MINT but the enclosure is a real notch job. Anyone know where I can get them rehoused in a nice box? Something like my sketch (apologies, I have no tech drawing skills 😕)

[markmarketstall]

Got these old East German RFZ preamps and they sound MINT but the enclosure is a real notch job. Anyone know where I can get them rehoused in a nice box? Something like my sketch (apologies, I have no tech drawing skills 😕)

[markmarketstall]

Got these old East German RFZ preamps and they sound MINT but the enclosure is a real notch job. Anyone know where I can get them rehoused in a nice box? Something like my sketch (apologies, I have no tech drawing skills 😕)

[markmarketstall]

What every DIY recording artist needs know about mastering in 2017

Mastering is the final part of the process of getting your recordings ready for release. You probably already know this. 

You probably also know that mastering is meant to make your mixes louder, which is broadly true too (we can argue about the specifics of that later if you want :)

But how loud?

Did you know that there is no industry-wide accepted standard for loudness in recorded music? So how do you know if your masters have been adjusted to the right level for you?

Most of the major online music platforms - iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube, Tidal, etc. - playback at different loudness levels (which are measured in units called LUFS - Loudness Units relative to Full Scale). 

Most of these platforms try to get all their music to playback at a roughly similar level of perceived loudness in order to improve their listeners’ experience. That way you don’t have to keep reaching for the volume controls to adjust for differences in loudness between the songs they’re listening to.

This means that unless your audio is mastered to the right LUFS level for any particular one of these platforms, it’ll probably be adjusted by the platform itself after upload if its too loud i.e. it will be turned down. 

These post-mastering adjustments (often called normalisation) change the way your song sounds to some degree, which means that the further your original LUFS measurement is from the platform’s chosen playback level, the bigger the change that’s made to it during the normalisation process, and the less your song is likely to sound how you want it to when played on these platforms.

So it pays to master to the playback level of the platform. However, because the different platforms playback at different loudness levels, getting your master right for one doesn’t necessarily make it right for another.

For instance, if your master is significantly quieter than the target loudness level for some of these platforms, the volume won’t necessarily be turned up to compensate. So in this case, you run the risk of your song sounding quieter than the songs of other artists around it - also less than ideal in a competitive marketplace.

Now let’s consider physical formats too - CD, tape, vinyl, etc. These are often typically mastered at different loudness levels than the ones which the online platforms have chosen to use. 

And if you compare the different physical formats - vinyl & CD, for example -  they’re also typically mastered at levels which are different from each other too.

So, as you can see, It’s really impossible to know how loud your masters should be without considering what your main delivery platforms & formats are going to be first. Maybe you even need multiple masters at different loudness levels. 

What’s for sure is that you should try and wipe the idea of a one-size-fits-all master from your mind, and find out the ideal specs for mastering for your preferred online platform(s) or physical media.

And you should definitely be having a conversation about this with your mastering engineer before you get the job done!

[markmarketstall]

***** review by Gemma from #savagesband & #bashan. Thanks Gemma! Glad you’re happy. Listen to the new Bashan record (mastered by yours truly) here: https://bashan.bandcamp.com #fivestars #studio #mastering #masteringstudio

[markmarketstall]

Equipment lists are all well and good when deciding which studio to choose (here’s ours btw: http://www.marketstallrecording.com/equipment-list) but what’s the tea & biscuit situation like? #studiosnacks #studiobiscuits #tunnocks #yorkshiretea

[markmarketstall]

Terrible photo of my amazing new #jemmafreemanandthecosmicsomething tshirt! Yes I am wearing my own band’s shirt for the gig #dontcare

[markmarketstall]

WHO’S (nearly) READY TO MAKE A RECORD? For those who like to plan ahead: save 10% off your total by booking 4 weeks or more in advance! T&Cs on the website: http://www.marketstallrecording.com/special-offers

[markmarketstall]

Did you order yours yet? #jemmafreemanandthecosmicsomething debut EP officially released Friday, posting out now! Come see us do a launch gig for it at the #amershamarms Friday night on the #getinherears bill!

[markmarketstall]

My 403 sounding better than ever after a little repair today - annoying rattle fixed by replacing perished old foam tape with new 🙂 #sennheisermicrophones

[markmarketstall]

Mark talks about how you can make a contribution to the collaborative protest song Lullaby for a Tory Government.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/marketstall

[markmarketstall]

The latest additions to the Marketstall Recording guitar amp arsenal ...

[markmarketstall]

Less than five weeks to go til the election and I decided it was time to do a thing that’s been at the back of my mind for a year or so.

I’ve written a protest song (well, it’s just a refrain really) about the treatment of people with mental health problems by the UK government's benefits assessment regime. This kind of thing is happening every day, and it's appalling: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/04/benefits-assessments-damaging-lives-hardworking-britain

The seed of the song is what you can listen to on Soundcloud (above). But I want it to grow.

So I'm inviting contributions from everybody who wants to help build it into a long, loud cacophony of dissent, many voices & instruments raised in protest together against the targeting of the most vulnerable in society.

I’m also asking for donations to raise money for Mind (the mental health charity). PLEASE VISIT MY JUST GIVING PAGE TO DONATE: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/marketstall

HOW TO MAKE A MUSICAL CONTRIBUTION:

Record your own addition to the song by any means available to you. It can be anything you're able to record - a spoken recital of the lyrics, a harmony to layer up with the main melody, an instrumental melody on whatever it is you might play, a drum loop, some wall of noise feedback, even a whole orchestral arrangement.

And you can record it on your phone if that's all you have access to, or if you have the time and resources to use some fancier microphones in a nice space then that's even better.

(If you want to come along to my studio in South London to record your contribution you’re welcome to do that too, free of charge, of course. Just get in touch to see if we can find a convenient time.)

Then send your recording to me. Please use WeTransfer and send it to this email:

info [at] marketstallrecording [dot] com

Feel free to record a longer version than mine if you want to stretch it out - the song will grow in length anyway so you’re welcome to do something longer than I did, just keep repeating and building around the same structure.

I've also included my guitar and vocal takes as separate stems should you wish to download those to play or sing along to. They should be easy enough to make into useful loops for that purpose. If you're going to approach it that way please remember to NOT include these original stems in the final bounce you send me though!

I intend to weave together all submissions into a longer, multilayered piece, that I hope will grow and grow as I receive new recordings.

Here are some details of the song you might find useful:

CHORD STRUCTURE: C / Am7 / E7 / F / G

WORDS: May the ghosts of all the welfare suicides visit you at night Until you die Millionaire

TEMPO: 120bmp (or 60bpm, depending on how you count it)

TIME SIGNATURE: 4/4

SAMPLE RATE: 44.1 kHz (24bit)

FILE TYPE: WAV

Please keep your version in the same key and at the same tempo otherwise it will be difficult to incorporate it into the piece. And please don't add to or change the lyrics - simplicity and repetition is the key!

Any questions please drop me a message here or on FB or by email.

Thanks to all who choose to get involved!

[markmarketstall]

First Timers @ DIY Space for London this weekend!

For those who don’t know, “First Timers” is a weekend festival at DIY Space for London where all the bands are brand new and playing their first show. 

For some people it’ll be their first time on stage ever, which can be daunting. First Timers tries to create an atmosphere that’s as supportive and encouraging as possible for those who are just starting out making music.

And its not just a couple of days of gigs - First Timers’ run regular workshops to share skills, experience and ideas with people who are new to all this. 

Me and Estella Adeyeri from DIY Space’s Sound Workers’ Collective led a workshop a couple of weeks back about live sound - what it’s like to get up on stage, what the sound worker’s doing behind the desk while you’re up on stage, and how the PA works to amplify the noise you make on stage.

My notes from the sound-on-stage end of the workshop are here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11mIQ0wDWjAG1IJxKRYMiXOEFy_P272ZxCYYgu3mvBr0/edit?usp=sharing

The First Timers’ festival is running both days this weekend - 6th & 7th May. Come along if you can make it - I can (almost) guarantee you’ll see at least one next-big-thing playing their first ever show; the kind of story that’ll serve you well down the years :)

Tickets available here: https://tickets.partyforthepeople.org/events/3061-first-timers-2017

(And if you’re not a member of DIY Space for London you can sign up here - https://membermojo.co.uk/diyspaceforlondon/ - the space is run as a members’ club so you’ll need to join before coming to a show. It only costs £2 for a year’s membership though so it’s well worth it.)

Hope to see you there on Saturday!

[markmarketstall]

Marketstall Recording invites you to our first Open Day on Sat 25th March 2017 - free membership worth £20 for all new visitors!

COME VISIT MY STUDIO ON SATURDAY AND GET FREE MEMBERSHIP WORTH £20! (if you're not already a member, obvs) Friends, if you've been thinking about popping in to see the studio this Saturday 25th March is the day. It's gonna be like an open day for you to come and have a look around, try out the live room, play around with some of our toys. Bring your instruments or borrow mine, it doesn't matter - whatever happens it should be a fun musical day. We'll be filming some of it too for a little advertising video so please be aware that you may end up in this :) There'll be drinks and snacks and oh yeah did I mention FREE MEMBERSHIP worth £20 for everyone who's not visited before! Please let me know if you're coming by messaging - I'll send you the full address and my number (if you don't have it already) so you can call when you arrive in case I can't hear you when you rattle the door (the downside to working in a soundproof room - the number of parcel deliveries I've missed ...)

[markmarketstall]

Six things we learned when SCROUNGE came to visit us at the Marketstall Recording studio last week ...