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Doug Fearn is no stranger to the recording studio. One of his first recordings was in 1968 captured on a 4 track Scully tape machine. His fondness for higher quality led him to launch his company, D.W. Fearn in the early 1990's specializing in vacuum tube products for professional audio engineers. In association with Tommy Mcintyre (guitarist) and support musicians (Hazelrigg Brothers) Doug demonstrates his technique for recording direct to DSD on the Tascam DA-3000.

What is mastering?  Mastering is what we call the 3rd part of the production process (recording is part one and mixing is part two) that has the potential to change with improvements or degrade the sound.   As we talked about in Part One of our series, the final stage 6 is the listening environment in the home.

Why doees my vinyl sound so much better than the PCM 192 files of the same music?

There isn't a simple answer.  Mastering is only the 3rd of 6 stages of degradation that audio has to deal with... the final stage being the home listening system.  Let's start at your listening systems..the 6th Stage.

It's been more than 5 years since Blue Coast Collection 2 debuted.  Blue Coast Collection 1 launched in 2007.  Blue Coast Collection 3 is destined to be another smash for Blue Coast Records.

Fiona Joy Hawkins -- her name resonates in the acoustic music circles as one of this generation's top contemporary solo piano artists.  Having won many awards for her two previous albums, Fiona's new album, Story of Ghosts, is destined to do the same.

Eamonn Flynn was born into a musical family in Dublin, Ireland. His soulful mastery on piano, keys, and organ landed him on the 12 million selling movie soundtrack for "The Commitments." He’s recorded & toured worldwide with many major artists including Michael Franti & Spearhead, Elvin Bishop, Coco Montoya, Michelle Shocked, Evelyn "Champagne" King and a ten year stint with New Orleans drumming legend Zigaboo Modeliste. Eamonn's solo album "The Irish Channel" reflects a unique blend of Irish & American influences, expressing music that is rich, heart-warming and rousing...a fusion that Eamonn himself calls "Irish Soul".

Jenner Fox and friends were recently recording at Blue Coast Studios for their just released album, Buffalo.

Here's a sneak peek at what it's like to be in the studio with Jenner.  A brilliant combination of mixed performances and actual performance captured of rehearsals from the video camera perspective.  In one minute, you'll hear the music transform from mixed to live to mixed all locked to video captured of the musicians, engineers and others during the session.

Commentary by Cookie Marenco on Daily Dose of DSD.  Comment on how you listen.  

Hello music lovers and welcome to the daily ramblings of Cookie Marenco, music producer, audiophile, and lover of sound.  This is her daily blog.