Hello all,
Thanks again. Its off to the cutting engineer and this forum was a great sounding board for me as we made our decisions - I got some good advice and insight from you all (and my twitter people too)
The record was recorded with the intention of making vinyl the priority. We realized that starts with the arrangements, production, equipment and so forth - right into the mastering finish line where we left the music as dynamic as it could possibly be. Analog all the way, manual mixes. Those who warn about loudness and compression are correct, but not to worry - this wasn't made for radio in 2005 - we're in good shape.
Here's what we did based on input from you all, research, and cross examination of life long veterans of recorded music:
* We resequenced and edited the record slightly to put the quiet string quartet song at end of longer side. That side is now barely 21 minutes long as I made some snips in a couple of songs to keep the time down. It actually helped those songs so all good.
* Having made the record shorter we're going with 33 rpm, one disk. We'll use 150g vinyl of the best quality available. This will keep the cost down (from 180g which is nearly twice as expensive) and keep us from hitting point of diminishing returns. 150 as you know is still much more substantial than the base weight. This will retain integrity of our music and not alienate those with shallow pockets.
* DMM at Abbey Road gets all around thumbs up from experienced engineers I've asked as there's a quantifiable gain which among other things takes a generation out of the process - this I'm told will be more effective than having put it on 180 g. Side A is a little longer at 21 minutes and this I've been assured will make up for the length (which isn't too long anyway, only just past the recommended length - plus we have quiet song at end)
* Lastly we'll be giving ourselves enough time to reject and revise after test pressing and to stay on top of the cutting engineer, which my mastering engineer will be choosing and cracking the whip on. We've left wiggle room and have patience for quality control.
I hope that as much as I've learned from the feedback that some of you get some insight into my side of things and what it takes to make good vinyl in an era past the pinnacle of the medium. And the next time I do this we'll hopefully get it more right. I love records!
Thank you,
Ben
Thanks again. Its off to the cutting engineer and this forum was a great sounding board for me as we made our decisions - I got some good advice and insight from you all (and my twitter people too)
The record was recorded with the intention of making vinyl the priority. We realized that starts with the arrangements, production, equipment and so forth - right into the mastering finish line where we left the music as dynamic as it could possibly be. Analog all the way, manual mixes. Those who warn about loudness and compression are correct, but not to worry - this wasn't made for radio in 2005 - we're in good shape.
Here's what we did based on input from you all, research, and cross examination of life long veterans of recorded music:
* We resequenced and edited the record slightly to put the quiet string quartet song at end of longer side. That side is now barely 21 minutes long as I made some snips in a couple of songs to keep the time down. It actually helped those songs so all good.
* Having made the record shorter we're going with 33 rpm, one disk. We'll use 150g vinyl of the best quality available. This will keep the cost down (from 180g which is nearly twice as expensive) and keep us from hitting point of diminishing returns. 150 as you know is still much more substantial than the base weight. This will retain integrity of our music and not alienate those with shallow pockets.
* DMM at Abbey Road gets all around thumbs up from experienced engineers I've asked as there's a quantifiable gain which among other things takes a generation out of the process - this I'm told will be more effective than having put it on 180 g. Side A is a little longer at 21 minutes and this I've been assured will make up for the length (which isn't too long anyway, only just past the recommended length - plus we have quiet song at end)
* Lastly we'll be giving ourselves enough time to reject and revise after test pressing and to stay on top of the cutting engineer, which my mastering engineer will be choosing and cracking the whip on. We've left wiggle room and have patience for quality control.
I hope that as much as I've learned from the feedback that some of you get some insight into my side of things and what it takes to make good vinyl in an era past the pinnacle of the medium. And the next time I do this we'll hopefully get it more right. I love records!
Thank you,
Ben
Keep us in the loop as it nears sale :yes:
