Tracklist/final Mastering

With the album essentially finished I have been undergoing the final processes of arranging tracks alongside skits, samples and scratching with the aim of creating a cohesive mix that flows easily from one track to the next.

This has involved a paid collaboration with the artist Osirus (https://soundcloud.com/officialosirus) to carry out the final mastering and level matching of the album, and also as fresh pair of ears (with different speakers, headphones etc to reference on)

One important point that was taken into consideration when mastering the album was the infamous 'Loudness War', essentially the eternal battle between releases all trying to sound louder than their predecessor. ("What is the Loudness War ?", n.d.) The decision was taken that my tracks would be quieter but with more dynamic range.

My track:

Modern Hip Hop release:

Part of the reason for this is to preserve the sound quality of the audio instead of trying to compete with the volume of its counterparts. This is also relevant as Spotify, one of the places the album will be released have reduced their LUFS index, meaning that tracks uploaded to their platform will be essentially the same volume ("Why Spotify Lowered the Volume of Songs and Ended Hegemonic Loudness", 2017). This means that slamming your tracks through compression to gain (perceived) loudness, will, on Spotify, only reduce the audible quality of your audio.

References

What is the Loudness War ?. Retrieved 24 May 2020, from https://dynamicrangeday.co.uk/about/

Why Spotify Lowered the Volume of Songs and Ended Hegemonic Loudness. (2017). Retrieved 24 May 2020, from https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywgeek/why-spotify-lowered-the-volume-of-songs-and-ended-hegemonic-loudness