NEWS

MAY 5, 2010: ASTRAL LAW ALBUM COMPLETE AND DOWNLOADABLE AS ZIP FILE

With "devotional", the April 27 post, the entire Astral Law album is now available for download here on the site. If you'd like to get it in a single download (a 52 MB zip file) -- ah the convenience! -- you can do that here.

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APRIL 7, 2010: PHILIP LYNCH LIVE AT NYC's SIDEWALK CAFE

WBR artist Philip Lynch has a solo show this coming Wednesday at NYC's Sidewalk Cafe. Here are the details:

Philip Lynch Solo Performance
Sidewalk Cafe
94 Avenue A (corner of 6th St.)
Wednesday, April 7
10 p.m.

If you've enjoyed Philip's tunes on WBR so far you're in for a treat: he's got tons of 'em, and they're short, so you'll be hearing a lot of great material packed into 45 minutes. I'll be there for sure -- come and say hello! -- James

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MARCH 7, 2010: CHANGES PLANNED FOR WORKBENCH RECORDINGS MP3 TAGGING

As you know, Workbench Recordings offers two options for listening to our mp3s: you can use the player embedded in each page or download to play in your player of choice.

The 'play-on-the-page' listeners greatly outnumber the 'download' listeners, but we have enough downloaders that I want to ask for any preferences or opinions before I make a change to the mp3 tags.

The mp3s are currently tagged so that each track is essentially its own album -- which allows each track's cover art to appear in your player. Now that there are twenty-something tracks available on WBR, this tagging might be cluttering up your player with one-song albums. It's possible to organize all the WBR tracks via the "comments" tag, which says "Workbench Recordings" in every mp3, but while this may be feasible on your computer, it's not very convenient in a portable player.

So what I'm proposing to do is to change the tagging so that all WBR tracks belong to one big album, "Workbench Recordings": Less cover art in your players, but easier organization.

If any of you are a downloader and want to weigh in on the tagging, leave a comment on the Workbench Facebook page, reply via Twitter, or contact me directly.

If we decide to go with my proposed re-tagging I'll be doing it in mid-march. So if you want to weigh in, do it soon!

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JANUARY 2010: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Effective January 2010, Workbench Recordings releases will be mastered by the venerable NYC studio Masterdisk. Traditionally 'netlabels' are not mastered and this is a milestone in the evolution of internet sound and recordings. To read more about this partnership read the Tape Op magazine blog here.

"Having a studio like Masterdisk -- with the experience and the rooms and gear they have -- it's the best thing you can do for your music," says Beaudreau. "Most of the Workbench tracks are recorded in project studios, so it's not necessarily the most 'hi-fi' music in the world. But I want everything we release to sound as good as it possibly can, and the best way to insure that is to have these guys handle the final step."

About Masterdisk
Masterdisk, founded in 1973 and owned and operated by expert engineer Scott Hull since 2008, is "one of the most enduring mastering facilities in the world" (Mix magazine). The NYC studio has mastered many of the world's most famous records, and continues to master for major labels, indie labels and independent artists, and now steps into the burgeoning netlabel world with the Workbench association. Masterdisk masters for vinyl as well as digital: they have one of only a few existing VMS-80 lacquer cutting lathes on-site, and the expert engineers to use it.
www.masterdisk.com

About Workbench Recordings
Workbench Recordings is a netlabel and multimedia project launched by musician and producer James Beaudreau in 2009. The New York City-based label releases an eclectic range of music, one track at a time. New releases are posted every Tuesday.
www.workbenchrecordings.com

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JANUARY 5, 2010: A FEW ADDITIONAL NEWS ITEMS

Hi folks, welcome to the new "News" page here on WBR. In addition to the exciting news related in the press release above there are a few other things I want to mention.

First, the CDR "Workbench Recordings Vol. 1 (WBR 15)" is on hold for the time being. There will be some physical releases in the future, but not just yet. My apologies to those of you who reserved copies. Good thing I didn't take any deposits!

Secondly, as you probably know by now, there's no new release this first week of January. Please come back on the 12th for our first Masterdisk-mastered release, the title track to my serial-installment album Astral Law.

Lastly, there is a new bit on the "About" page with a few submission guidelines for musicians, writers and artists who want to contribute to Workbench. As I mention there, I'll get back to everyone who sends me something for consideration. -- James