July/August/September 2025

As usual, it’s been a super busy few months of various mastering and remastering projects. I did manage to get out a bit and see “Weird Al” Yankovic do an amazing outdoor show at Breese Stevens Field here in Madison on a perfect late summer evening, as well as Pokey LaFarge at another outdoor show at The Duck Pond where the Madison Mallards play which was also great. Back in August I got to see Dusk and Geoff Palmer at Mickey’s Tavern which was fun to see, and catch up with friends.

There have been A TON of announcements in terms of new albums and reissues that were mastered and/or remastered here so I’ll try to remember them all and post them here.

So it doesn’t get buried at the end of this post, I thought I’d start by mentioning that Apple Music was kind enough to create a playlist of stuff I’ve mastered for their “Behind The Songs” campaign which highlights engineers, producers, musicians, and songwriters who typically work behind the scenes and until recently, had a hard time getting proper credits in the streaming era.

Thanks to the efforts of the folks at Apple Music, we’re now a few years in to having access to proper credits and as somebody who spent a lot of time reading the liner notes of CDs, cassettes, and vinyl, this is a welcome improvement to the streaming experience. You can find the playlist HERE.

Interscope Records and Carly Rae Jepson announced a 10th Anniversary vinyl reissue of her ‘Emotion’ album that was remastered here. There are a few color variants as well as a 1xLP and 2xLP option with the 2xLP version containing some bonus tracks.

The Replacements and Rhino Records announced a Deluxe Version of their classic 1984 ‘Let It Be’ album. The deluxe version features a remaster of the original LP (remastered here), a bonus disc of various outtakes and alternate versions, some of which were mixed here with the help of Ian Olvera and then of course mastered here, and then a 1984 live show from The Cubby Bear in Chicago. You can pre-order and read more about it HERE.

Rhino Records also recently announced some freshly packaged EPs from The B-52’s for three songs from their mega smash album ‘Cosmic Thing’. The recently released ‘Channel Z’, ‘Love Shack’, and ‘Deadbeat Club’ digital EPs feature a TON of vintage remixes from the vault that have been hard to find in the digital age. Now you can stream them all in once place as well as a fresh remaster of the original album tracks. Available now on your streaming service of choice. Here’s a handy link to them.

No Coast Records announced an anthology from the influential early hardcore band Mecht Mensch from Madison, WI. I’ll link to the Bandcamp pre-order page which tells the whole story but some noteworthy things about this release are that Butch Vig recorded their much sought after EP in 1983 at Smart Studios. The master tape was thought to be never returned from the pressing plant and gone forever, but after the untimely passing of legendary producer SPOT, Henry Rollins ended up with a bunch of tapes from SPOT’s archive so the first 5 songs could be remastered from the original analog tape rather than having to use an unplayed 7″ vinyl copy which was unfortunately the original plan.

After the first 5 songs, the sound quality varies due to the available sources we had, including some live shows but I think this turned out great and is essential for any fan of the band, or for those who haven’t been able to track down or afford the original 7″. The lacquers for this new vinyl release were cut by Nick Townsend at Infrasonic Sound in LA.

Bobby Hussy did an incredible job putting this epic Mecht Mensch anthology together in terms of sourcing all the audio, show flyers & info for the packaging, and everything else that goes into putting out something like this.

You can pre-order it from No Coast Records Bandcamp page HERE.

Fall Out Boy and UMe announced a 20th Anniversary edition of their epic ‘From The Cork Tree’ album. It features a remaster of the original LP, as well as many bonus tracks. You can read more about the release, release variants, and more HERE.

The triple-platinum ‘Astro Lounge’ album from Smash Mouth has somehow never been released on vinyl but Interscope just announced a 2xLP version of this album that was remastered here, along with some bonus tracks to fill out side D. More info HERE.

The Cranberries and UMe announced a 30th Anniversary Edition of their classic ‘No Need To Argue’ album earlier this year which included their previously unreleased 1995 MTV Unplugged performance. The entire set was mastered/remastered here and now you can get just the MTV Unplugged portion on standalone vinyl. More info HERE.

Interscope recently announced a new vinyl reissue of ‘Dangerous and Moving’ from Russian duo t.A.T.u. that was fully remastered here. The 2xLP 20th Anniversary Edition has a bunch of extra songs. More info HERE.

Some other great new releases that were recently mastered here are Combat Naps ‘This Was The Face’, The Honeydogs ‘Algebra for Broken Hearts’, and Cole Chaney ‘In the Shadow of the Mountain’,

And finally, after some procrastination, shipping debacles, and further procrastination I finally got these Grammy losing certificates framed. (see below)

The North Mississippi Allstars album was up against some stiff competition but it was an honor to be a part of such a great album that was nominated.

The Replacements release actually did win a Grammy but I don’t think it really counts for me since the award was for Bob Mehr’s excellent liner notes and not the music or sound but they sent a certificate anyway so it is what it is, and thanks to Bob for having me on board to master that one.