friends, THE RESPONSORIAL is set to release (globally) November 1, 2023. that is All Saints Day, which i think fits the aesthetic of the record rather nicely, a nuanced and fitting suggestion from my partner. the vinyls are being manufactured in Nashville by United Record Pressings following an extensive vinyl mastering process completed by Wes Garland. they should arrive early October, and i’ll be shipping preorders for ya’ll 10.23, so they arrive about a week before the official release.

there was some delay in test pressings, accordingly, after we caught some harmonic distortion in the left channel of the initial test pressing. every time an “S” was sung or the electric guitar screeched there was crunch and hiss. a distracting listening experience. on a very helpful phonecall, Wes, who most recently mastered the reissue of Elephant (very impressive), explained that the distortion in the left channel is caused by the leaning of my turntables stylus, or needle, and subsequently the width of the grooves on the vinyl. what i gathered, vinyl is natural compression insofar as 1/2″ by thousands of feet of tape is transferred to a near microscopic groove stretched around a 12″ record. compression means that some sounds are amplified and some sounds are reduced, making everything a little more even and pop a little more. in mastering, the the overall gain, kind of like volume, is increased as well so that the record is not too quiet compared to other albums. so as the vinyl is cut and mastered, bigger sounds have bigger grooves, like heavy bass and deep percussion, and shrill sounds tend to have tighter grooves. the natural compression squashes those grooves, making the fidelity response of the needle higher, but more prone to skip or jump or hiss, and the increased volume can amplify these distortions. thus, the fidelity of the high end was hissing and popping in the left channel because my stylus could not read the information. the solution? bring down the volume! Wes made the record a little quieter, more similar to the original 1/2″ master, and boosted some of the bass response. the result? a 2nd test press that is moody, melancholic, dark, bass heavy, hushed, and brilliant. cheers to Wes, many thanks. finished product is being manufactured and on its way!

if you would like to listen to the analog recording, you can preorder on bandcamp here where you can also preorder a digital download. streaming will be released on 11/1/23.

-david