Mika's blog : the vinyl test press process [#1, 2018]

This week, Metalorgie released what seems to be already a cult interview with Michael Berberian (founder of Season of Mist) about his story with Mayhem. Following that, we asked him if he would be up for a more "official" collaboration. As of today, Season of Mist is basically the biggest extreme metal label from France and one of the most respected in the world, thanks to its varied and strong roster. Consequently, it was decided to give him an open platform to share his thoughts and rants, his deep knowledge of the music industry and Metal in general, being it extreme or not for that matter. For this first note, Mika will tell you about the painful process of verifying the vinyl test presses.



Random thoughts and rants of the day :

1- Test presses are still mine to do at Season of Mist. I hate it but I don't see who I could pass it to. Here's the reason why.

Test presses process is simple : you get a vinyl, you listen to it, and you verify if a song is missing, song order (basically if the master was uploaded in the proper order), or if during the lacquer process something went wrong : electronic clicks, skipping, etc. It doesn't happen often but it can.

All those who knows me well knows I am an easily distracted, chaotic disorganized person with the attention span of a goldfish when being talked to. 
But so far (cross fingers) I got them all. so far. All the clicks, all the misprints... Even while doing something at the same time, I catch them. An absolutely useless skill gained by listening to so many live, demos and having to "judge" them. My ears catches mistakes. They are judgmental unforgiving pricks. I should put that on my CV one day.

2- Today I was doing a new test print (due to factory change) for Solstafir Svartir Sandar. Been a while since I had listened to it. Years, probably. The band is more mature now, this sounds more juvenile, in a way? But it's sooo good. What an album...


By Michael Berberian