The spec still listed a -9 LUFS club variant that the master unit no longer
renders, so render_release would have printed MISSING into the summary PLN reads
over coffee — an error that looks like a broken pipeline but is actually a
decision nobody wrote down. So it is written down now.
`club` moves to `variants_deferred`, carrying the reasoning rather than just the
path. It is not a failure on two counts. First, the axes were conflated: PLN's
"one live club mix" means the CONTINUOUS set as opposed to the album split, which
is a FORM, while this entry is a LOUDNESS target of our own convention. No
CosmicFest track is cut, so the continuous mix simply IS the master file, and both
of his forms are already covered by the streaming master plus tracks_v1_streaming/.
Second, it would have missed anyway: reaching -9 from a -25.6 LUFS source with
4.7 dB of linear headroom tripped the LRA floor at -10.5 on the trial, meaning the
target costs more dynamics than it is worth on this particular tape. Moving the key
back into `variants` renders it, so the decision is reversible in one edit.
Added `abVariants` alongside, recording what the freed CPU bought and why: the stem
EDA proved the 8-16 kHz deficit is cymbals rather than codec noise — drums hold
0.367% of their own energy above 8 kHz against 0.084% for the runner-up, a 4.4x
concentration — which licenses opening the air shelf but says nothing about how
far. Two full masters at +5 and +8, identical otherwise, judged in place rather
than on a clip, per the lesson OPAL's reverb A/B taught.
The finisher now iterates only the variant that exists, so its split, verify and
on-disk census all line up with what was actually rendered.
