Back from a quesadilla, some banking, and I've been having long telephonic calls with the mastering guy about the project we're about to announce on Monday, all about the nature of the sound of this CD and how we want to present it. The problem is there have been three previous CD releases of this score - one very short, one longer, and one even longer but none, shockingly, complete. We ARE complete and with some bonus material to boot, but I don't like the sound on any of the previous releases. But one is walking a tightrope because that's the sound people are used to - the last of these releases is mastered so hot as to defy credulity - it's fatiguing to listen to, harsh, and almost verges on distortion. Several of the cues have choir on them, and while the choir was recorded sans reverb and you don't want that, they have dumped so much verb on the choir that there's a slapback effect which washes everything and all that extra verb makes the orchestra sound unclear and washy. But we're doing our own thing - it's why I insisted on getting the original three-track mixes so we would have the ability to do our own thing without just undoing their, for me, weird work. So, yes, we of course will add some natural verb to the choir, but everything should be much cleaner and clearer on this new version, with much more dynamic range. That's the hope anyway.
