The album mastering on Wednesday went quite well overall. We discovered a quirk in one of the tracks that showed up during the mixing process, but that's being fixed and things are almost set for putting the final compilation together. All the tracks sound ready to sit on the store shelves next to any of the rock albums released by a major label.
I'm completely fascinated by how mastering can make a good recording sound great. I brought all the album tracks in a rough mixes with the volume and placement of various sounds where they belong in the stereo spectrum and Nick, the mastering engineer, took those rough mixes, brought out the subtleties of the recording, beefed up the bass drum sound with some EQ tricks, backed off the high-hat where it got a little to piercing in spots and gave the entire album a louder sound with out crushing the dynamic range the way so many recordings tend to sound in recent years.
Ultimately, when you listen to the recording, it will be up to you to make your own judgment about how you think it sounds. I personally like the way the tracks turned out. I like every song on the album and have a new favorite as a result of the mastering session. This is at least the 3rd time I've switched my opinion about which song I like best, which is either a sign that all the songs are good or that I'm indecisive. I'm leaning toward believing all the songs are good.
By next week I should have a better idea when the exclusive online listening party will be. I've also got a big announcement related to MediaBlab coming on Tuesday, so stay tuned. Another exclusive has been sitting on my desk for the last several days and I completely spaced including it earlier in the week. J!nx, my favorite geek apparel site, is offering everyone who reads this a 10% discount on anything in their store. You need to use the coupon code MEDIALAB to get the discount. Why are they offering the discount to you? I convinced them I'm on a mission to put an I ♥ Spyware shirt on the back of everyone who uses Internet Explorer. I'll be ordering one with the coupon shortly, along with another shirt that speaks volumes to anyone working in the online publishing space. I'm occasionally sited wearing this hat when I'm having a bad hair day.
