It’s been another busy few months here at Mystery Room Mastering, hence the lack of July update. That said, just because things are busy doesn’t mean you can’t submit your project for mastering. All I do here is mastering. No mixing, no recording, no misc stuff. Mastering, and only mastering. This means turnaround times are predicable and efficient with single songs taking between 1-3 days, EPs and short albums less than a week, and regular albums less than 2 weeks. With some advanced notice and communication, albums can sometimes be completed in less than a week.
Single Song Mastering Projects can be submitted HERE, and EP/Album Mastering Projects can be submitted HERE. Both pages provide an estimate of cost before submitting it.
A pair of great reissues from Sounds Rad! are now available to order. One is Dr. Frank‘s 1999 solo album “Show Business Is My Life”, and the other is Pansy Division‘s “Undressed” which originally came out in 1993 via Lookout! Records. Both albums were fully remastered here and the lacquers for vinyl were cut by the always great team at Well Made Music.
You can learn more and order HERE.
Grammy-Nominated blues artist Jontavious Willis has a new album called “West Georgia Blues” which is out now on CD, vinyl, and streaming via Strolling Bones Records. You can learn more and order HERE. The production on this one is great, and a big deviation from his previous album. The new album is very stripped down and intentionally mono which makes for a very authentic and enjoyable listen.
Redshift Headlights (Oshkosh, WI) released a great new album called “If You Are Around Still”. It was recorded by the late Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago, mixed by Dean Hoffman and Redshift Headlights, and mastered here at Mystery Room Mastering. It’s streaming everywhere but you can purchase it on Bandcamp (Digital, CD, Vinyl) HERE.
I had the pleasure of mastering/remastering the Elliott Smith masterpiece “XO” for the latest Interscope Vinyl Collective release which is a double LP Deluxe Edition. This album has had a troublesome past on vinyl, in part due to the longer running length and delicate nature of the music, combined with the amount of compression that is baked into the recording and mixing process…which often gets blamed on the mastering engineer.
Thankfully, aside from one bad review from a notable vinyl snobbery website, this pressing has been getting very good reviews on Discogs and even on the Hoffman forum which is usually known for very picky listeners and complaints about mastering and vinyl pressing. Even some members of the Hoffman forum are questioning why the vinyl snob website gave it a less than favorable review. Maybe somebody was having a bad day. When the people on the Hoffman forum are objecting to a bad vinyl review, you know something is amiss.
I don’t want to reveal my sources but I can say that with this having to be remastered from not the most ideal source, and not cut to lacquer by a choice lacquer cutting engineer, the fact that this pressing is getting such great reviews is a good feeling. I did suggest trying to even out the vinyl sides for this 2xLP deluxe version to help it sound even better and avoid a 24+ minute side A but that suggestion was not listened to so it is what it is. Maybe next time.
The debut album from Verböten (Jason Narducy‘s ’80s band) which was mixed by Sean O’Keefe and mastered here was recently announced. The first single is out now. You can read more about it HERE and you can pre-order it HERE.
“Say It Like You Mean It” by The Starting Line which is an early 2000s emo/indie rock classic has also been remastered here for an upcoming vinyl release. You can learn more and pre-order it HERE.
Donna Summer made a Christmas album back in 1994 which has been remastered here and will be available on vinyl again for the first time since the original release. It will be out later this year and you can read more about it HERE.
A 2xLP version of Bon Jovi‘s Greatest Hits was recently remastered here and will be available soon. More info HERE.
As always, this is just a small sampling of the latest new releases that have been mastered here, and the best place to follow along is over on Instagram.
Thanks for reading.