Dinosaur jr. - Hand it over (1997)

The album

Dinosaur jr is an American band born on 1983 and yet active nowadays in the indie rock scene. It is one of the most influential band of every time in the indie rock scene. The leader, J Mascis, is considered one of the best rock guitarist. This album is the seventh, and in my opinion it is the better one with 1993 “Where you been”.

It has been mastered by mastering engineer Greg Calbi, whom I personally consider the best mastering engineer in history with Howie Weinberg. The album style reflects the classical band style: a distorted but also melodic rock, with powerful rock tracks that alternate with melancholic songs, with always an intense mood. This style keeps together Neil Young’s influence, with his voice, psychedelic attitude, melodic intensity, tracks length and warm sound, with the energy of punk rock.
Hand it over is a superb album, and it deserves to be listened from start to end, without interruptions. It flows between rock tracks and melancholic atmospheres, like “Alone”, a super intense, touching, wonderful song.

The sound

What is amazing in this album is the sound density. The audio mastering has contributed to make the sound of this album extremely dense, solid, warm, enveloping. A guitar wall with a warm and strong sound is placed on the side. The powerful but well controlled low frequencies of bass and kick are placed in the centre, along with the beautiful and characteristic voice, that is never too loud. A perfect balance, where certainly the audio mastering made by Greg Calbi has been a fundamental component.
Another fantastic aspect of this album is the sound of the compressor. Whoever knows audio mastering, can easily recognize the classic, smooth pumping effect created by the use of compression on the master. The sound density is due to this kind of compression too. This album represents a great example of how the master compression can be used in an effective and pleasing way in the audio mastering stage.
The compressor used by the mastering engineer has created a compression of the macro dynamic peaks, with a very pleasing light pumping effect, without sacrificing the transients impact. The result is a powerful and impactful sound, which is at the same time dense and well controlled. Every instrument is well balanced and sits in its right place; there are no macro dynamic excessive peaks; the overall sound is solid with a wide stereo imagine.
This album is suggested to those who love indie rock and rock genres, to Pixies and Neil Young fans, but also to those mastering engineers who are seeking for a great example of how to effectively use the compression (and the equalizer) in the audio mastering stage.