All mastering I had done in the past was very uncreative and served only to get the track as loud as possible. It was only after I watched an interview with Mandy Parnell, a highly acclaimed mastering engineer, did I appreciate just how much creativity is involved in the process. I decided to keep the mastering minimalist, as I wanted to prioritise maintaining the contrast in dynamics between various sections. This meant a minimal use of compression and only a moderate use of EQ.
Since the band's sound is derived from our unique performance's, I ensured that the branding included images of us. I considered minimalist alternatives, using graphic design art or even AI generated images, but I thought an image with us in it would suit best. Our ability to brand ourselves was limited to a poster for our gig and our social media (photos of both can be seen below). I found the location by cycling to various bridges in Sheffield until I found one which had the best potential for us to be stood on for a photo, so a river can be seen in reference to our name. We hired a professional photographer who took some great photos. The creation of the gig poster was done by Phoebe, our harpist.
I released the EP on Bandcamp, a great free streaming website, and I hope to release it onto Spotify and other streaming platforms in the future. We are playing a gig shortly after the release and I am highly looking forward to hearing/seeing the result of all of this hard work be received by a live audience.
Below - The original images, gig poster and a screenshot of our Instagram page
