Re: [Harp-L] ASCAP Lawsuits

[Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

FJM wrote:
> There might be a few cd players still lurking about in radio stations but 
> the vast majority of stations have been using computers and satellites and 
> heavily compressed file formats for years now.  fjm

Shows how old I am.

I do know that when I got Music For Small Audience mastered, they added in 
a unique identifier on every track - the ISRC code - and that string can't 
be removed by compressing the file.  I guess that's what ASCAP reads.

There are better reasons to get your music mastered.  Everyone - everyone 
upon hearing their final mixes says "Why on earth should I get this 
mastered, it sounds GREAT!"

And there are alot of crummy mastering houses out there.  But there are 
some incredible ones, too.  I use Bernie Becker in Pasadena, and have 
recommended him to lots of satisfied customers.

When we cut Robert David Hall's CD in Austin, his tracks were taken to a 
mastering house in Austin.  The first I heard it, it sounded okay.  It 
wasn't my place to tell Dave to go to the extra expense of re-mastering 
with Bernie, but Carl Verheyen, who has tremendous credibility in such 
matters and many others, advised that RD should try remastering a single 
track with Bernie, so as to hear the difference.

When I was asked to A/B the two masterings, I asked that I not be told 
which was Bernie's.

I heard what turned out to be the Texas mastering first, then a few bars of 
Bernie's mastering, at which point I said "That's Bernie's work.  It's 
exploding out of the speakers and everything is clear as a bell."

For professional sound, use a great mastering house, and make sure they 
embed those ISRC codes.