Except I shan’t be mostly mastering because in all honestly I have no fucking idea what that is.  Apparently it is tweaking the teeny-tiniest of things in the final mix of a song and still somehow making the most significant of differences. I’ve heard a good masterer get the most amazing clarity of instrumentation from a shitty, over-compressed mp3 file, to the extent that it sounded amazing on vinyl.

We tend to use Reuben Taylor for our mastering these days.  As well as being a lovely (if slightly mental) fellow, he does an amazing job for a very reasonable fee in a very short space of time.  He was responsible for the Meursault All Creatures vinyl, as well as the gorgeous Rob St. John record and the King Post Kitsch Honeytone EP.

Anyhow, today Rory Sutherland, who helped me record and engineer the record, and I will be off with the final mixes for the split 12″ we’ve been recording with Waiters, Sex Hands, Dolfinz and PAWS and this will be the first time I have witnessed the process first hand.  So I’ll be sure to tell you what unspeakable wizardry takes place in the mastering suite.  Assuming, of course, that I understand any of it at all.

All these photos were taken by the fantastic Nic Rue.  Except the shit one.  That was Rory.

Erm, this example of tactless verbal bumbling will not surprise my regular readers in the slightest. So here we go.

I was at the End of the Road Festival and just happened to bump into Reuben Taylor, who plays accordion and piano with James Yorkston & the Athletes. I’d chatted drunkenly with him at the last Fence Homegame so I said hello and we had a brief chat which included the following excruciating exchange:

Toad: You’re playing today aren’t you?
Reuben: Yes, over at the Bimble Inn, but we clash with Lambchop so I don’t know how well we’ll do.
T: Oh yes, I’m going [starts to realise this is not going to go well] to be, er, at Lambchop myself too…
R: *Doesn’t look impressed*
T: Well, erm, you guys ar, er, local and I’m going to get, ah, more chances to see you later so I thought, um… [tails off embarrassingly]
R: Well London’s not exactly local, Edinburgh’s 400 miles away.
T: Well, er, it’s more… [Tails off, forgetting to mention that Toad Hall is in fact in Edinburgh. Tries to pretend conversation hasn't happened.]
R: *Efficiently changes subject*

What absolute diplomatic genius, I think you’ll agree. I feel such a prat. What I meant to say would have sounded a bit more like this:

‘Seeing as I have seen James & the Athletes four times in the last couple of years and, given I live in Edinburgh am likely to see you just as often in the next couple of years, and given I have never seen Lambchop and may not get the chance again for ages, I think I am going to have to opt for Lambchop on this occasion. Hope the gig goes well though, and I will definitely be in your audience again very soon, clapping and cheering like nobody’s business’

Which I think we can all agree sounds an awful lot better. So, in a desperate attempt to make good my bungling I am going to introduce you to the splendid Mr. R. Taylor through what else but the medium of popular song.

Reuben Taylor – Fanfare From his De-Fence Records single, shared with Jon Hopkins, which can be bought on vinyl here and is very much worth a fistful of your sheckles.
James Yorkston & the Athletes – 6.30 is Just Way Too Early (Reuben’s String Arrangements) Off this single.
James Yorkston – Rosemary Lane I can’t swear it’s Reuben on accordion but it’s pretty likely. From the unspeakably beautiful EP, Someplace Simple which you have to buy – absolute genius.