Preparing for vinyl release.

[steevio]

this mono-ing the bass thing keeps coming up in this forum, the thing is just dont worry too much about it, the cutting engineer will mono everything below about 130-150 anyway, and filter out anything below 20 - 25 HZ. but its good advice to keep all your bass elements panned centre.
ive attended over 40 cuts, in seven different cutting rooms, so these figures are an average.
i wouldnt worry too much about square wave bass either, although i'm sure Torque knows his stuff, and theres something in it, but i've recorded lots of records with SH101 square bass, and what about the TB303, the SQuare wave on that virtually defined dance music in the early days, i've never had a problem with it.
using square waves should be an aesthetic decision.
the main thing to worry about with bass is subs. if your monitors cant pick up the very low frequencies, you may have huge amounts of sub that you're not aware of. the cutting lathe cant handle them, so they will be removed, and this can totally alter the balance of the higher bass elements.
always try to check out your mix on some speakers that can reproduce subs, the best way is over a club system.
i agree with Torque that panning is pretty pointless in a club, where you will probably be standing nearer one speaker than another, so to some extent panning effects in any part of the spectrum will be perceived as drop-outs in parts of the room.
if i record tunes that are blatantly dancefloor oriented, i use hardly any stereo at all on the percussive sounds, maybe just on the reverb, but its obviously different with home-listening tunes.

[Measax]

this mono-ing the bass thing keeps coming up in this forum, the thing is just dont worry too much about it, the cutting engineer will mono everything below about 130-150 anyway, and filter out anything below 20 - 25 HZ. but its good advice to keep all your bass elements panned centre.
ive attended over 40 cuts, in seven different cutting rooms, so these figures are an average.
i wouldnt worry too much about square wave bass either, although i'm sure Torque knows his stuff, and theres something in it, but i've recorded lots of records with SH101 square bass, and what about the TB303, the SQuare wave on that virtually defined dance music in the early days, i've never had a problem with it.
using square waves should be an aesthetic decision.
the main thing to worry about with bass is subs. if your monitors cant pick up the very low frequencies, you may have huge amounts of sub that you're not aware of. the cutting lathe cant handle them, so they will be removed, and this can totally alter the balance of the higher bass elements.
always try to check out your mix on some speakers that can reproduce subs, the best way is over a club system.
i agree with Torque that panning is pretty pointless in a club, where you will probably be standing nearer one speaker than another, so to some extent panning effects in any part of the spectrum will be perceived as drop-outs in parts of the room.
if i record tunes that are blatantly dancefloor oriented, i use hardly any stereo at all on the percussive sounds, maybe just on the reverb, but its obviously different with home-listening tunes.

makes sense...thanks... and I wasn't arguing with torque, I've just heard so much about the mono thing.....

[le K]

thank you Torque and Steevio for you help on this question!

[Mike Lennon]

wikkid thread thanks fellas!

[::BLM::]

Can anyone reccomend any companys that do the whole package, cuttting, mastering etc...

thanks
ben

[steevio]

Can anyone reccomend any companys that do the whole package, cuttting, mastering etc...

thanks
ben

where are you based ?

i personally wouldnt recommend doing the package thing, unless you are on a very tight budget. i did it on some of the early mindtours releases, and had problems, (like having 1000 sleeves go missing ) some of my friends have used eastern european companies, and things happen, like they forgot to put the holes in the outer sleeves etc.
but i'm sure if you ask around you'll find a few dependable companies.

i use different companies for each of the jobs, cutting, pressing, printing labels, printing sleeves, it's definitely more expensive and requires you being on the case with paperwork, orders, payments etc., but i know i can rely on the quality of the product, and that the jobs are done bang on time.
i think attending the cut is really important, if you do a package, everything is done on the cheap, so you probably wont have a choice to do that. every engineer has different ways of doing things, if youre not there, he may boost some area of the mids that alter the balance of the melody or percussion so that some sounds jump out and others fall back, so that when you hear the finished vinyl, you may think it sounds like a different tune !! it's amazing how a very small tweak can change a tune.
the main thing a cutting engineer will do to your tune is get it much louder on the vinyl, which inevitably means compression or limiting, again this can upset the balance quite drastically.
i always attend my cuts, and have a great relationship with the engineer, who now knows what i want, and goes out of his way to achieve it, doing test cuts to check it before the final cut.
if you go with a package deal, it will probably be cut in cheap downtime by a less experienced engineer who has no idea what you are looking for, and doesnt really care.
same with vinyl, i use an excellent pressing plant, run by professional looking guys in white coats, everything is spotlessly clean, etc. and its quality vinyl.
i've been to some scruffy 'backstreet cowboy' plants you wouldnt believe, they just dont care.
if you want to save money, save it on the printing, it's a very expensive component of the whole deal, use one or two colours on the labels and generic or black/white sleeves or even cheaper, disco-bags.

i havent really answered your question, but i thought i should give you an idea of my experiences, heres the people i use ;

http://www.alchemysoho.com-----------cutting/mastering
http://www.portalspacerecords.com----pressing
http://www.delga.co.uk--------label printing
http://www.senolprinting.co.uk----------sleeve printing

it'll probably cost you 30% more, but for me its worth it.
peace

http://www.mindtours.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/steevio