Dear friends and backers of the DIVE recording project.
A long overdue update is in order.
Much has been done over the last months. Most importantly, more than half of the recordings have been through a first draft of mastering. It’s been a real pleasure to be working with Michael White who has great ears, great suggestions, great competence and great tools. We’ve basically been working our way through every track on every recording, refining, enlivening, refreshing, and clarifying the sound. Very detailed, but also very satisfying when you hear the difference. It can be literally like having your sonic windows washed; it’s as though the original recording was just a little dim and bleary.
Here’s a link to our first draft at mastering ‘The Prelude’ & ‘The Pearls’. Synths are a little too high in the mix right now (hard to resist with Nostradamus at hand!), but it is a very big improvement!
I’ve also spent a good deal of time researching the optimal digital distribution channel for DIVE (as well as for Howlings, my previous ambient-electroacoustic CD, which I’ll be able to send out to supporters very soon). It was a tossup between CD-Baby and TuneCore, but I’m going with CD-Baby as they have a better reputation for manufacturing hard copy CDs.
During the summer Fides, in a lengthy period of extensive voice work, suffered some damage to her voice. This injury, combined with typical scheduling challenges, has resulted in our delaying the recording of ‘Lighea’s Ocean’, the only vocal part left for Fides to record, until the New Year. This has, of course, moved our CD launch date into the New Year as well. We’ll have a solid date and place for that asap.
All in all the project is going well: the budget is OK, every track that Michael and I work on comes out sounding a good deal better, and we just keeping on moving. Perhaps more like a turtle than a rabbit, but we will get there.
Thanks for your patience… and thank you again for your marvelous support!
Be well!!
NIk