Al Stewart 20220504 Mariner of the Seas Studio B
Cruise To The Edge (CTTE) 2022, May 2 - 7, Day 3
A Hairy Botch Recording and Master

FLAC 96kHz24b
FLAC 48kHz24b
-> FLAC 44.1kHz16b

Contrast:

Lineage:
Sound Professionals SP-CMC-8-Phantom (@24V) -> 20db XLR passive attenuator -> Tascam DR-44WL 96kHz24b WAV -> OcenAudio -> Reaper -> Media Monkey (tagging only)

Notes and observations:
I mastered this recording so that it sounded good to my old ears. I hope you enjoy it too. First I adjusted the levels and EQ. Then I ran it through a brickwall compressor for a LUFS-I roughly between -18dB and -14db. The compression is a little hotter than I usually do, but this is a metal band so it just works.

Both OcenAudio and Reaper use 64bit float internal representation for the audio data. The transfer between the programs is 32bit IEEE float PCM. Overkill for bootleg recordings? Sure, but I'm OK with overkill.

Mastering steps:
OcenAudio (destructive)
convert WAV to IEEE float 32b CAF (this is for import to Reaper)
gain based on music-only passages
L +1.44
R -0.12
for a relative boost of 1.56 on the left while avoiding any clipping
head trim 22.970 seconds
tail trim 19.331
manual fade out to zero
limit/reduce amplitude clapping sections
normalize, remove any DC, and balance channels
-2dB additional limiter
re-normalize

Reaper v7.x (non-destructive)
EQ and readjust for 0dB peaks (IK Multimedia TR5 Linear Phase EQ)
additional peak limiter on difficult transients (Cockos ReaLimit)
brickwall to LUFS-I -15dB to -13dB (IK Multimedia TR5 Stealth Limiter)
render to individual tracks, FLAC 96kHz24b

Media Monkey
tagging and file renaming
batch conversion from master format to lower res FLAC for anything below 96kHz24b (my native library format)

Tracks:
1-01 intro.flac
1-02 Flying Sorcery.flac
1-03 Carol.flac
1-04 The Palace of Versailles.flac
1-05 Time Passages.flac
1-06 On The Border.flac
1-07 Midas Shadow.flac
1-08 Joe The Georgian.flac
1-09 Year Of The Cat.flac

The band are:
Al Stewart - vox, guitar
The Empty Pockets
Josh Solomon - guitar, keys
Erika Brett - keys
Nate Bellon - bass
Adam Balasco - drums

with:
Marc Macisso - saxiphone

Other Files:
Al Stewart 20220504 Mariner of the Seas Studio B Day 3 44.1kHz16b [Hairy Botch].ffp
Al Stewart 20220504 Mariner of the Seas Studio B Day 3 mastering notes 2024.txt

About the software I use:
OcenAudio is a fantastic and very stable (destructive) audio editor that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. I contribute to their project. I hope you will too.

Cockos Reaper is a great and very reasonably priced DAW that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It is the backbone of all my mastering work. I use the personal edition and love it. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it's worth the effort. If you need a DAW on the cheap please consider trying it out.

Media Monkey is a Windows only media library manager that I've used for many years now. I don't know what I would do without it.

Finally:
If you enjoy this recording please support this artist.