July 14, 2017

Signum Records, London

Today I went into our record company's offices in London to listen to the Master Tape of our GOLD recording. It's always a privilege to hear an album being made, and to be part of that post-production process, and today was certainly no exception. As we've recounted on occasions too numerous to mention, recording and delivering this three-disc set has been a mammoth task stretching back a good number of years!Mastering a recording is essentially the process of taking the final edit (where the best takes from the sessions are spliced together) and creating the best possible overview sound for release. We discuss the sort of "space" we want around the tracks, whether we want to use any effects, and how "cleanly" we present that sound to the public.With GOLD, we've gone for as honest and natural a sound as possible. We've taken into account feedback for our most recent releases, and added in our own preferences for a live and exciting sound. Acoustics have been adjusted as little as possible, and we've taken the majority of the microphone feed from the acoustic mics rather than the close, individual sound that studio discs often have. That sound is a good one - but for this, we wanted to recreate as closely as possible the live audience experience.So, that's what I listened out for and worked on today. We already have a lot of people who have ordered our Premium Product (which is still available for pre-order) and it was a great feeling to know that these finishing touches will go onto the disc and remain there forever. A few days ago, a good friend of the group was talking to me about this and asked me "what do you really want to achieve with this recording?" My answer was fairly simple: "we want to make sure that it's a reflection of where the group is today, but also hope that listeners can hear the group sound stretching all the way back to 1968."You'll have to be the judge of that...