Crunching Numbers

It's a little like "Groundhog Day" for me as I listen to "Dark Ritual" over and over and over...

Tweaking and polishing, making subtle changes that may be unnoticed, but will result in a better listening experience. That's the main focus at this point.

By early next week, I will be handing "Dark Ritual" to various "test listeners" to gain those last bits of vital feedback before passing through it all one more time to finalize the mix for duplication.

We're also working hard to use our funds responsibly. As it stands now, producing the 300 physical units we're planning to, combined with associated costs, will come close to cleaning out our budget for "Spirit Blade Productions". The same thing happened two years ago when we printed "Spirit Blade". We were hoping to reduce costs by printing a smaller number of units (less than half the amount we did for "Spirit Blade"), but with rising costs everywhere and an additional disc in this set, it will cost just a few hundred less to print "Dark Ritual" than it did to print "Spirit Blade". 

We're doing what we can to explore money saving options. After all, we're anxious to start our next project, which will only cover one disc and have a much quicker production schedule, so we'll need funds sooner! However, we are unwilling to release a product right now that does not meet the quality standards we are determined to achieve.

Some of you may be curious about the purchase price for "Dark Ritual". While we won't be able to determine that until we get the bill from the CD manufacturers, we want to put this project in your hands and ears for as little money as possible, while allowing us to stay afloat through your support. "Spirit Blade", a two disc project, sold for $15.00 at the time of its release. We are committed to selling "Dark Ritual", a three disc and nearly three hour project, for less than that, and still with free shipping.

So stay tuned. We'll keep you up to date as best we can. Meantime, don't forget to join me for the 6th and final chapter of "Spirit Blade" on our podcast this weekend!

 Right now, though, I've got some listening to do!

-Paeter Frandsen