A great new interview with Steven Wilson is up at Caerllysi Music.  It’s one of the best FoaBP-related ones I’ve read so far.  In it, he shares his reasons for mastering the new Porcupine Tree album:

Do you master your CD’s and what do you feel about the problem today that most CD’s sound the same because of the similar technique used in mastering? Do you miss the demo sound?

I have gradually taken over all the mastering of my projects and this is the first PT album that I have mastered because I was not happy with the way that professional mastering houses were mastering it. There is a tendency to make everything very loud, to try and get volume at the sacrifice of dynamics and too much treble and too much bass and not enough of that warmth in the middle. You know the pressure has been there from record companies to make CD’s sound louder because they notionally sound more exciting that way. But over a period of 50-60 mins it really does start to tire your ears out, and that has been a problem with this CD generation, basically your ears get tired quicker.

It’s refreshing for me to hear that at least some artists “get it” with regards to dynamic range and are taking positive steps to improve the sonic quality of their recordings.  Thanks, Steven, it’s much appreciated!