Explore the darker side of Color Theory with this free 6-track EP, available through Halloween!

UPDATE 11/1/11: I’m overwhelmed by the number of downloads and emails! I’m glad you enjoyed it, and hope you had a fantastic Halloween.

The Complete Color Theory features 217 tracks on 15 albums (3 are double albums), completely remastered from the original source materials in both mp3 and lossless FLAC formats, on a custom laser-engraved 8 GB USB key. Bonus materials include scans all of CD artwork, sheet music, plus a PDF scrapbook full of photos, lyric sketches, and various other embarrassments.

I asked you how much I should sell them for, and $99 was the clear consensus (I’ll cover the shipping). That seems reasonable to me, but I don’t think it’s fair that someone who already bought most of the albums has to pay the same as someone who hasn’t bought any. So…

During the pre-order period, you’ll receive a $5 credit off the $99 price for each of the 10 official Color Theory releases you’ve already paid at least $5 for. That means many of you will get it for half off: $49.

On November 1, it will be set in stone at $99, regardless of your purchase history.

UPDATE 11/1/11: The pre-order period has ended, and today I start mailing them out in order of payment received. It looks to be a limited edition of 75, the last few of which are available here.

I’ve spent the past four months remastering my entire catalog, making every song sound the best it possibly can. The difference is dramatic, especially with my early material.

In a few weeks I’ll be releasing The Complete Color Theory on a custom laser-engraved 8 GB USB key. It will feature 217 tracks on 15 albums (3 are double albums), in both mp3 and lossless FLAC formats.

There will only be 50 available at first. If there is enough demand, I’ll make another 50, but they may not be ready in time for the holidays.

My question to you is, what should I charge for my life’s work?

As far as I know, this hasn’t been done before, so we have little to go on. The iTunes going rate is $9.99 per album, so 15 albums (setting aside the fact that three of them have over 20 tracks) is $149. But I don’t want to charge “full price,” especially since most of you have already bought one or more of them. Another factor is that an 8 GB USB key is about $20 on its own, and you could always copy the songs over to your computer and use it however you please.

With that in mind, please take my 4-question survey and let me know what you think!

What is remastering?

Applying EQ, compression, limiting, and other tools of the trade to correct mix problems in the original source material, giving each song the desired punch, density, and volume. In short, making it sound better! Every song from every album now matches in tone and volume, so you can shuffle to your heart’s content.

What is a USB key?

A USB flash drive. Basically it’s a tiny external solid state hard drive that plugs in to your computer, and works on both Mac and Windows. The songs are separated in folders by album and format (FLAC or mp3).

What is FLAC?

It’s a lossless compression format for storing the songs at full 16-bit, 44.1 KHz CD quality in about half the space. You can convert FLAC files to .wav or AIFF and back again with no loss in quality (hence, lossless).

What exactly is included?

Everything at music.colortheory.com, plus the following:

Latest Singles

1. Drive You Home
2. Where Did We Go?
3. A Slip of the Finger

Color Theory presents Depeche Mode: The Remixes

1. Here is the House (Atomzero Remix)
2. But Not Tonight (Tristraum Remix)
3. I Am You (Chiptune Mix)
4. Leave in Silence (Royal Visionaries Mix)
5. Sweetest Perfection (Hajas Mix)
6. Sister of Night (Tagiroff Mix)
7. Ponytail Girl (Raph Version)
8. It Doesn’t Matter (Fr/action Mix)
9. Here is the House (Vz Chinese Theatre E.C Version)
10.  World Full of Nothing (Midnight Mix)
11. But Not Tonight (Late Night Devotional Mix)
12. One Caress (Synthetik FM Mix)
13. Here is the House (Some Stranger’s Funky Pleasure Mix)
14. Ponytail Girl (Casm Mix)

Outside the Lines

1. In an Hour From Now
2. Exclusively Unhappy
3. Be My Lover Now
4. One Thing Leads to Another
5. Johanna
6. Can’t Wait for the Night
7. Hooked on Love
8. Obsession
9. Nothing Else Matters
10. My Love
11. Survivor’s Guilt
12. Gabriel’s Message
13. Amethyst
14. Emotion Generator
15. For Sale
16. Vinyl Bliss ft. The Dignity of Labour (Color Theory Unmix)
17. Let Me In ft. Cosmicity (Color Theory Unmix)
18. Forbidden fruit ft. Opium (Color Theory Unmix)
19. Echo of a Star
20. Misguided
21. My Gift to You (acoustic)
22. Faces (acoustic)
23. The Rule of Tickles (early version)
24. Zero Crossing (early version)
25. I Stand By My Mistakes (early version)
26. Guilt Reflected (early version)
27. Stare Out the Window (early version)
28. Softer Than Sleep (early version)
29. Once Upon a Time (demo)
30. Shadow in the Shade (demo)
31. Severed Nerves (demo)

The Lost Remixes

1. The Rule of Tickles (Leadboy Remix)
2. Song Named After a Girl (Odd Year Mix)
3. Drive You Home (The Invisible Kid Mix)
4. In an Hour from Now (S.cr Potential Energy Mix)
5. Two (Vocoded Threesome Mix)
6. It Must Be Halloween (Carved Souls Whisper Mix)
7. Extroverts at Play (Lost Robot Monotonous Mix)
8. And You Thought I Was Joking (Beyond Mix)
9. Song Named After a Girl (Leadboy Remix)
10. April’s Bonfire (Mystechs Mix)
11. Something Beautiful (Tristraum Remix)
12. For Good (Digital Rain Mix by Elvie)
13. In an Hour from Now (Inbox Potential Energy Mix)
14. Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale (Lost Robot Fairytale Mix)
15. If Not Now When (Elevated Mix)
16. Our Shadow (Casm’s Trip Through the Darkness Mix)
17. Too Close (Formative Remix)
18. Song Named After a Girl (Roaming Royalty Mix)
19. End of the Night (Spankmix)
20. Behind the Rhine (Intuition Mix)
21. Eiffel Tower (Fidgital Remix Sketch)
22. Cheerleader (KickOff Mix)
23. New Year’s Eve (Ambitious Mix)