Friday 19 November 2010

"Full Circle" Delux

I'm currently revisiting one of my old mix CDs and remastering it from scratch so I can make a "10th Anniversary" Edition of it (though it's now technically a "10th Anniversary plus four months" edition!

Some thoughts on this little project:


  • The sound-quality of the original CD is bloody awful! At the time, I didn't know any better and so, several of the tracks were mastered from low-quality 128kps MP3* files (probably from a pre-legal Napster) - and I did such terrible work on raising volumes, boosting treble/bass/etc. throughout that, the whole album has digital clipping galore in it. A sonic nightmare!

    * one track was actually transported from my workplace in London to home on 4 floppy discs as there was no other way of getting hold of it at the time...


  • I've chosen to lose the "Volume 6" moniker and just keep the "Full Circle" title (some of my early "volumes" are so cringeworthingly badly mixed that I'd rather they just faded into the mists of time..)


  • I intend to improve the original artwork (that had a "bubble wrap" theme) that was created at such a low resolution, you couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be. Oh, and while I'm at it, I want to somehow utilise the mountain of *real* bubble wrap I have taking up room upstairs and create a limited edition first run of either 50 or 100 pressings. Dunno how yet. Just an inkling on an idea...


  • I still treasure the memory of going to a friends' 21st Birthday party a couple of months after the release of the album in 2001 (in the local town of Wooton Bassett) and being delighted to hear the opening track from the CD being played. That feeling was followed by complete and utter gobsmackdness when I realised from the next track onwards that it was actually a copy of this very CD being played (and it was getting a packed dancefloor too!) The jaw then went through the floor when I saw the CD being played and it was a bootleg copy that someone else had taken the time to create alternative artwork for (featuring a fake-topless picture of Britney Spears on the cover! FAR more pleasing to the eye than my admittedly-pretty-boring original artwork!! ;)


  • Back in 2001, blank CDR's could only hold 74 minutes of music. You can now fit 6 minutes more so I want to use that additional space and add a couple more contemporary tracks from the period that I wanted to include at the time but obviously couldn't...


  • There's a tiny little bit on the original CD where you can hear my voice on it. A little self-indulgence from more, erm, volatile times. It's now getting snipped.


  • Despite all the above flaws, I'm very proud of the original album! It literally works like a 'full circle' in that you can play it on a cyclical loop and there's no pause in it. Though I didn't realise it when I first recorded it, it's very inspired by Pink Floyds' "The Wall" album that starts and ends at an exact same point.


  • Am I being too much of a George Lucas here? Will there be any people who hate my revisiting this album and prefer the original? We'll see... :)