WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND

Mixing it up this weekend...

Tonight Strikes Again! comes to Smoke and Mirrors (all 4 members - a first? maybe a second) to finish mixing their 5 song demo (Working title - "It's Not An EP"). When I say "finish" I mean get the songs to the point where our mixes may be finals... we'll listen in our various environments over the next few days and decide if they really are done. If so, cool. If not, cool. We'll tweak and go again.

I anticipate some loud music and possible imbibing. I, of course, will remain completely in control. After all, mixing a song is like flying a plane. I base this on my extensive piloting experience.

Basically, I try to keep my eyes on the dials, keep us level, and make tiny adjustments to maintain balance. If I stall, I point the nose down, and I always make sure I have enough space between me and the ground to recover (thanks Dave).

We'll have air sickness bags on hand.

Tomorrow... more mixing.

George, Ted, and I will be heading over to Headgear in Williamsburg to run an analog mix of "Hugo Magnolia" for the upcoming House of Blondes record. At some point George was able to convice lead singer John Blonde that running the ProTools session through an analog board and mixing to tape would benefit the sound immensely. They ended up booking Headgear, and we'll mix through their Trident 80C console to 1/2" tape (moving at 15ips - that's "inches per second" - the prefered speed for rock).

I'm excited about the session. The board's got flying fader automation, and the idea of mixing to tape has enormous appeal for me. Unlike mixing in ProTools at Skyway Studio (George's space), you can adjust levels on more than one track at a time. This seems so simple that it's hard to believe that it's been lost more and more as people mix in computers. Unless you have a dedicated control surface, ie a bank of faders connected to the computer, you're forced to use your mouse to do one thing at a time. Not the way it used to be done, not the way it was meant to be, and not the way we'll be doing it tomorrow.

Headgear has an actual EMT plate reverb. For those that don't know what that is, it's the weird looking box in the upper left hand picture on this page. This is one way they used to do reverb. It's heavy and very cool, and it certainly ain't digital.

Will the mix be better on analog? As I said to George, Mike, Ted, and John, we know it'll be different.