Masters of the universe

The excrement hit the proverbial device for creating a current of air this morning when it turned out that my decision to postpone the mastering by two days meant that we lost the masterer I'd booked and we were left scrambling about for someone else. We all know that desperation makes people raise their prices and some of the quotes I was receiving for "last minute" mastering were quite outrageous. I spent the morning whilst mixing, emailing various masterers who were coming up with quotes which ranged from £300 to £1300 to master the album, but at around noon I committed to someone who came strongly recommended as a guy who  specialises in classical music mastering, which I thought felt right. I was thrilled to find out that my CD manufacturer knows him as well and says he'll do a great job, so onwards and upwards.

It was a tough old day, however, and we're still three numbers shy of completion, which just seems insane. A number of the songs will need a second mix as well. It's funny. You can tell the numbers that the performers enjoyed, or found easy enough to do well. But there's some very sloppy playing (and singing) in places, which we're doing our best to mask, but it has the slight effect of leaving a sort of squawking mud in the midst of an otherwise perfectly decent take!  The process of mixing these numbers requires patience and space between hearings... We do a bit of work, put the song away for a bit and then return when we've done something else.

It's been a tough day for us both. Tiring beyond words. I woke up with itchy eyes which never went away. My phone broke. It only fell about 30cm, but the screen smashed, which I thought was a touch dull.

We had our lunch in the front garden. Halloumi and pepper sandwiches care of Olivia. It was a beacon of sunshine in an otherwise troubling day.

Right. I'm off to sleep. I can't keep my eyes open. Sleep well everyone. See you tomorrow...