The Collaborators, when Dangerous Liaisons began

My very dear Dangerous Liaisons cast and project followers, the time draws very near, indeed! While I like to send you these updates at every step along the way, the "mixing" step for this recording has lasted so long that you haven't heard much since our ACT I EXPOSITION listening party. (That was fun.) But now, since you are hearing from me again, guess what that means ...

The Mixing is done! True, after the break-in and loss of equipment, hardware, software and the ACT I working data, the newly completed ACT II mix does not quite match the acoustic of what remained to us of the ACT I mix. In fact, it sounds better. It sounds fantastic! I just wish that I still had the working files for ACT I, so that I could put that final polishing on it as well. But we'll live with those differences instead of starting the ACT I mixing work all over from scratch, eh? (For the time being anyway; perhaps one day, I'll do a nice "Remastered Release" of the recording. But for now, LET THE MARKETING BEGIN!)

Now, I'm not talking about the marketing of the recording so much as using the recording to begin the marketing of the show for production. So now that the "Mixing" step is complete, the next step is the "Mastering" of the entire audio stream of the show, into the 3CD set that you've all been waiting for. A new step, and thus a new Public Update. But guess what? ...

The Mastering is done, too!! Due to the nature of the project, a good deal of the work of mastering was completed along with the mixing work. So when the time for mastering actually came, the process went much faster than I had anticipated. Basically all that was left to do for the mastering was to balance the volume from scene to scene, so that they all sounded at the same level, and then chop the whole thing up into CD tracks. Burn and BANG! You got your Masters. All three of 'em!

SOOooo ... The NEXT step: The packaging and insert prototypes have already been developed and in place for some time now. Updating the CD case's back cover contents will take, oh, a few minutes. So now I am working on the larger job of completing the insert booklet. As you recall, this will be where the entire recorded cast will be credited by name. It will also contain Principle Role headshots, the complete libretto, etc.

The thing that makes the task a bit longer is that the libretto cannot simply be cut and pasted, or else the booklet would be WAY too fat. The libretto must be completely reformatted for CD insert presentation. But the libretto IS already written, so it's only the reformatting that needs to be done, and I'm guessing that that will take, maybe, a month at best. The rest of the booklet won't take long to design at all - just a few days. With the packaging in place, and the CD labels designed (also a quick job), all that remains is the duplicating of the packaging and the CDs, and we're off and rolling!

ATTEND THE DANGEROUS LIAISONS EXPO!!

All of this means that we're just about ready for the next get together, to finally hear the whole show! And to get your copies! And to make the formal premier introduction of the musical Dangerous Liaisons to the world! Be thinking about this meeting, and please DO send your suggestions for possible venues. This time there will be a bigger group, assuming that all (still-local) cast members attend, including, perhaps, some industry folks and others.

So, so happy to be finally making this announcement,

Malcolm Caluori

Composer, Project Coordinator

Melpomene Music Group

P.S. If you haven't visited the new website, it's much improved. Though still under construction while other tasks are more pressing, the Dangerous Liaisons sections of the site are pretty complete. And you can listen to clips from the recording. Take a look, sign in (for free) and let me know that you visited!