Turns out that I’ve neglected two important steps in the process: Mastering and copyright. Unfortunately, this may mean a delay of a couple weeks in getting One Man Garage Band out the door.

Mastering is an interesting process whereby the album’s sound frequencies are manipulated to—for lack of a better phrase—sound better. This has to do with compression and equalization of the audio. It’s not the same as mixing the tracks, but it can be used to bring out certain sounds in the mix and “punch up” the overall recording. I’ve listened to some before and after samples and consulted with my friend and professional musician Garr, and it’s obvious to me now that I need to have One Man Garage Band mastered.

Having the album mastered will cost several hundred dollars, and depending on how many copies are sold may end up eroding significantly or erasing entirely any profit. Nonetheless, I’d rather turn out the best work I can than make a fortune. Hopefully I and everyone else will be able to hear the difference.

The copyright process is not terribly difficult now that everything’s been moved online. It appears that once I have the final versions (post-mastering, in other words) I simply need to fill out a form, upload them, and pay $35 fee. This is, of course, copyright registration I’m talking about. The actual copyright itself already exists.