Client
ANTILOUNGE 22 - a milestone release for Antilounge Records from The Hague, has a brilliant concept. Released as double vinyl, with beats on one record, and drones on the other, it allows for DJs to mix both records into their own combinations of both.
Since there are eight drones on the first record, and ten beat tracks on the other, at least 80 different mixes are possible right out of the box 🙂
Project
Antilounge 22 is released on both vinyl and all major music streaming portals, so Rocketclowns made two different masters, optimized for both media.
Two different masters, where the vinyl version posed some unique challenges.
Technically, digital masters allow you to do pretty much anything you want with your sound. As long as it sounds awesome, you don't true peak over 0dBFS, and your loudness is at least -14 LUFS - you don't want to sound quieter than Skrillex on Spotify - you're good to go.
Steaming services now bring down the level of all tracks to about -14 LUFS, but can't turn up quieter songs, because then, peaks would start to clip. In order be as loud as the others, the master needs to hit at least -14LUFS. Louder? No problem. Personally, I like the phat wall of sound of masters between -10 and -8LUFS, so that's what I went for.
Technology
Vinyl, on the other hand, has some physical limitations - during the cutting process and during normal playback - that a vinyl master needs to account for: