Suddenly a week ago I realized that I have been here in California for a year now! Lord, how time flies. It’s been a crazy year for sure, from the moment we decided to move here from Amsterdam, to finding a house with enough space for the studio, then buying it, arranging the move, coming here, waiting for all the stuff to arrive, building up the studio etc. I’ve seen enough paperwork for the rest of my life 😉 But we’re moving along nicely here, though i will have to upgrade the AC in the studio as an outside temp of 100 plus degrees F combined with the heat of a ton of vintage audio equipment is enough to send any standard home AC system to an early grave..

I’m very surprised that the sound of my masters has really not changed, i always figured the room had more influence or maybe i’m just lucky or know just enough of acoustics to make it all work. I’m also very pleased to say that practically all labels I worked with before, have stuck with me through this move and some labels from this side of the pond are now added to the mix. I thank you all.

With the summer traditionally being a bit slower, i had enough time to finish another remix (This time for the Tiger Weeds label from Athens, Greece) and some new sketches for Rude 66 tracks. But first up are a tape release of ambient material and a digital release for an old, old friend of material that should have been finished years ago.
Working On: Mastering old tracks for a vinyl release by Age OPF, a double album by Children Of The Night on Mannequin, Elektrotechnik EP on Tiger Weeds, and Resume INC on the new Earth Speech label.
Finished Masters: One of my more challenging projects was a DVD by Menko Konings aka Em, with both solo and SM Nurse tracks recorded at the 2014 Grauzone Festival. The sound quality left a lot to be desired, but with some sonic trickery it turned out quite nice. also a Pieter Kock 2LP on Macadam Mambo, Os1r1s cassette on No Fiction, a 4 track VA on electro label EMC, a Girotuna album on Vrystaete/ Enfant Terrible and i’m sure i forgot something 😉
Released: various SM Nurse tapes on Top Tape, the first Dapman on DAP (the legendary Dance Arena Productions from Holland, super cool to see this active again), Os1r1s on Digital Empathy, Age OPF- Negen on vinyl, and new work from the Copenhagen Electro Alliance.

This month I finally updated my mastering software. I use Wavelab for the software part of the mastering studio, but I was still using version 6 while we are at 11 now! Needless to say I had to learn a completely new workflow, but now I sort of figured all that out, boy does It make my life easier and my mastering more efficient! Should have done that years ago!

Working on: some nice new ambient material by Amsterdams own 543FF for his label Lazy Reflex Complex (Bandcamp, both digi and tapes too!), more material on Panam Tracks and Copenhagen Electro, and the last of the reissues for now on Top Tape cassettes.
Finished Masters: A wonderfully experimental album by Novo Line from Berlin (digi out now, vinyl in preorder) , a great new EP by Decliner on Texture Detroit (nice mix of guitar and electronix) and 2 very cool new albums on Electronic Emergencies by Rotterdam’s Das Ding and Swedish madman Celldod.
Released: LFT album on Osare

The studio and mastering room are coming along nicely, most of the hardware is now installed too. It really surprised me that all the gear survived this massive moving trip, from being packed in Amsterdam, then taken to a warehouse, then packed in a container, spending 2 months on a ship around the world, offloaded into another warehouse, and shipped here. those packers/movers in Holland did an outstanding job! the only things so far that didn’t survive were my Dremel and an electric toothbrush 😉 I also did my first recording in the studio here, a remix for the Punx soundcheck label that will be coming on vinyl soon.
Working on: both a VA compilation and a Teslasonic EP on Tiger Weeds, and En Direct electro EP from Leipzig, reissues of SM Nurse tapes, and 2 big projects involving reissues: one is Juniper Hill and the other one is Bande Berne Crematoire. this was amazing material but boy, dis it require some spit and polish to make it ‘pressable’. Artists, please: save decent versions of your original recordings!
Finished Masters: Neonicle on EMC, the second Dapman on DAP, Abe Schwartz on Swiss Lux Records (welcome back, guys!) a nice Electro album as a collaboration between DVS-NME and Krypton 81 on new label Pan am Tracks and a cool new album by Poperttelli on Macadam Mambo.
Released: Charles Bronson tape reissue by Menko (SM Nurse) on Top Tape, Police Des Moeurs- Commencement, Human Rebellion- Light & Shadow (LDI), Basse Fidelite- Mord Dans Le Film (cassette), Abschaum LP on Macadam Mambo, and more..

I finally have some time to do my mastering administration since last summer 😉 so things are becoming clear of what is released and what isn’t, though it seems waiting times for vinyl are now back to what they were before the pandemic. it always works itself out that way..
Working on: a new Sexo Y Fantasia record on Pinkman after the one i already mastered for Macadam Mambo, very nice grooves! a new LFT album on Elena Colombi’s Osare, a new Neon Lies album on Wave Tension, several Vrystaete albums for Enfant Terrible about to come out, new material coming on the revived legendary DAP label from Holland, and some very nice minimal synth tracks from Void Republic, a.k.a. my Intergalactic FM dj colleague Radio Void.
Finished Masters: new Sintsin on EMC, new Nixer mini album, Leon Volca, a compilation for Copenhagen Electro Alliance (digi only), 2 releases on the new Digital empathy label from Malta/ Holland, LSRM on Mannequin, Adrian Marth on Schrodingers Box and one of my favorites, a new Abschaum on Macadam Mambo.
Released: Age OPF announced his 9th, digi already out and vinyl is coming, i restored some audio for Edwin Brienen’s new movie Bleh!, I restored and remastered a lot more audio for SM Nurse’s Menko Konings under the title Love Songs (vinyl album with extra SM Nurse material on cd via Top Tape), a very cool digi album by A73 aka Roel Janssen (Bandcamp), vinyl by another Dutchman called Bert Scholten (Dat Speelt Hier Niet), an album and remix for Belgian electro pop rockers Skemer, a cd by Donderdag, Larionov and Happy 707 on Schrodingers Box, a superb T. Error double album and an EP by Versalife on dutch electro label LDI, and a special mention to the amazing album by Canadian electro wave band Siviyex called The Mirrax Sequence, out now on vinyl on Nooma. And I promise next update will be soon 😉

Apologies for the long wait, but we moved to the other side of the world! All equipment was stuck on a container ship for almost 2 months, then after delivery the studio had to be built up and as usual, that took way longer than planned or anticipated. But its pretty much all done now, so mastering services can more or less resume as normal. As you may understand, I have totally lost which masters have been released, so no overview this time, I may add it later. Only one I’m certain of is my own new double album on Bordello A Parigi, Conditioning Consciousness, that came out late November.

Some very big and exciting news about the mastering studio soon, stay tuned… Working on/ Finished masters: the Human Rebellion EP on LDI Records, very cool electro synthpop album from Canadian Siviyex, a Dutch language album, somewhat experimental/electronic by Donderdag, the TV Out EP on Spanish Seed label, new material on Pinkman and sublabels by Ricardo Laine (tape/digi), Bertran, and after the summer a banging Credit 00 2×12″, and more material dug up from places you don’t want to know on old cassettes from Top Tape’s head Honcho Menko Konings. Released: The Hacker- Red Team (Mindri MIN303), Chino- Common Oddity (Mindri 304), Pluto Junkies- Contact (digi only, i believe vinyl is coming) Mindri 305), the really rather wonderful Ceremonie EP on Enfant Terrible/ Gooiland, the Teratology 2×12″by Andrew Lagowski on Spanish Fill-Lex (remember him from Nagamatzu), Adore’s The Endless Never on cd (!) on Kess Kill, and finally the vinyl version of the Dancing as an act of rebellion 2lp by Abraxas (soil020)

Working on/ Finished Masters: Another digi track from Irish/english band Nixer, the Tutu Ta album on Macadam Mambo, finally two new Vrystaete releases by Enfant Terrible by artists Mushroom Patience and Grens, the Cristov album by Spanish B.F.E Records, and both vocal and instrumental versions of the new album by Belgian dark Electro pop duo Skemer. Also a new Celldod EP on Electronic Emergencies, and an electro banger by Versalife on Dutch LDI Records. Released: A-tweed X Otrefuturo EP on Basque label Haus of Beats (HOB009), the Fetishista Kommunista mini album on blood red vinyl by Macho Diva on Electronic emergencies (with remixes from Vive La Fete and yours truly), the Fiesta En El Vaccio album on French/ Belgian label Simple Music Experience and the Astrodansii EP by Konerytmi on Electro Music Coalition, super solid Electro. Test pressings: Rude 66 new EP on Pinkman plus 7″ (rejected, another single with the hole not in the middle.. come on, guys!)

Working on/ Finished Masters: 2 separate digital singles for Irish/English indie/synthpop band Nixer, Twoonky album (Macadam Mambo), Noamm 12″ (Tiger Weeds) and finished the remixes for D’marc Cantu. Also finally all singles for the 4×7″project on Seed/Soil are finished. Released: ADN C’Krystall- Frankenkraut (Macadam Mambo, I did the mastering and track restoration as these came from very old tapes), Fallbeil- Mockturtle (Macadam Mambo), Los Mohanes- Tumbia (Moli Del Tro), WHITE001, The Fly- Insect (Lost control 2097.) Test Pressings: –

Working on/ Finished Masters: I’m doing another remix for the German Minimood label, this time of Zakmina (Minimood 024), just finished it. Espana album on Magia Roja, and 2 cassettes for Osare Editions: another compilation and Anna Funk Damage The Violetov General album was withdrawn because of a pressing fault, so this will come a bit later. Theo from Panoptique is releasing an album on cd that I’m mastering and electro label EMC by dj Neuro is getting back on track with a cool dark ep by Sinitsin. Released: Ayats/Thorvald- Lune Atroce (Electronic Emergencies), Axel Larsen 10” (Macadam Mambo), Age OPF- EP no.8. Test Pressings: –