We mixed Fall yesterday [Fri 1/27/2012], and while mixing I took some notes on what we did and how long it took. Granted, this is a 6 minute song with some 43 tracks of audio, but still it takes a really long time when you look at it.
We did save some time because we had previously done a rough mix, so all the tracks were already setup so they went out to the proper channel on the big mixing board.
We started our day by recording about 5 minutes of video talking about the song – it will [eventually] get posted over at joeystuckey.blogspot.com – you can sign up for auto-updates from that blog as well!
…and before we get to the details, and in case you don’t know – this is Joey Stuckey’s newest album we are working on. The mixing is being done down at Shadowsound Studios in Macon, GA [home of the Allman Brothers and Otis Redding – and a TON of other great musicians you’ve never heard of!].
Joey and I have co-written all 10 tunes on the album, and we are co-producing as well. We’ve pulled in some excellent musicians to work on some of the tracks, including Dr. Marcus Redding, Miguel “not-related-to-the-dictator” Castro, Dr. Monty Cole, and Pam Rule.
You can CLICK HERE to see all the videos that have been posted while we have been recording the project. We’d love to here from you – what style do you think this album is? We’re still trying to figure it out!
So here is a peek at how the tune got mixed down from 43 tracks to 2.
| 10:00 am | Record Video thingy – to be posted at joeystuckey.blogspot.com [eventually!]. Power up the studio, put the camera away. |
| 10:30 | Drums – setup, EQ |
| 10:50 | Add verb to drums [which one? We’ve got hundreds to choose from] |
| 10:52 | Bass – working on EQ, panning |
| 11:00 | Piano part – timing issues to be fixed. EQ out the lower end b/c it needs to punch in the rock section. |
| 11:10 | Begin working on jazz section at the top |
| 11:50 | Djembe reverb? A few of the hits are too loud – we selected those few individually and dropped their level. |
| 12:05 pm | Oboe part – EQ, add reverb, pan so it’s there, but not majorly obvious. |
| 12:15 | “Chunka” part – setup a new bus in the computer, selected a cool effect to run it through. Took some time to get the parameters just right, but the time was well spent. It made those 5 seconds in the songs just magical. |
| 12:25 | Worked on panning on the lead-in into the rock section. Had to automate the electric guitar part. |
| 12:30 | Rough mix 1 burned to CD…ooops, forgot the rainstick at the end. We’ll add it later. |
| 12:40 | LUNCH BREAK! Joey popped out for an appointment – he listened to the rough mix while in the car and made some notes. |
| 2:00 | Several tweaks done from the rough mix notes: Adjust volume on several tracks, fix some solo notes, bring the Verse pad up, add the rainstick at the end….. |
| 2:35 | Modify the rainstick timing – and add some stereo effects to it….not a lot, but just enough! [There’s often a fine line between those two states…..] |
| 2:45 | Djembe scrapes – add effects at the beginning of the tune. had to move a few clips to a new track, and then route them through the same bus as the “chunky guitar” bit. |
| 3:10 | Burn test disk, go check the mix in the car. |
| 3:20 | Sounds good – time to start burning the stems [i.e. different versions of the song – one with no melody, one with just the percussion, just the keyboards, etc. These are for use later]/ |
| 3:45 | Done! A long but very productive (and absolutely fun] session! |
| next Friday | …on to the next tune! |
Tom Rule, the MacMusicGuy
http://www.tomrule.info
http://www.last.fm/music/Tom+Rule
http://www.tom-and-co.com
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