I recently mixed The Yellow Albatross’ debut album produced by Paul Mercer. The Black Island of Abulia is a concept album written and performed by Patrick Martel with a few instrumentalists. According to Patrick, it’s “the portrayal of all emotion suppressed under a doldrum life finally erupting and pulsating out with highly dynamic songs, complex and delicate instrumentation.”

I see this record as a wonderfully constructed indie-pop record, masterfully produced by Paul.

Enjoy my two favorite tracks from the album.

Bed Of Whales
[See post to listen to audio]

Six Days Of Summer
[See post to listen to audio]

Adam Trice, better known around town as Red Sammy, recently published a book of poems and decided to create some music to accompany the literary project. He recorded 5 songs at a friend’s house. They were tracked wonderfully but he decided to seek an extra dimension for the mix.

I Stay In Bed
[See post to listen to audio]

The Current
[See post to listen to audio]

I put these mixes for Adam together a few weeks ago. The book/CD is out and you can buy it here.

Last month I produced a 3-song EP from E.Joseph and the Phantom Heart. Working with them was a joy. They were well rehearsed and were complete professionals. Their perseverance and motivation to make a great record will be evident when you listen below. Jason Martin came in to mix “The Ghosts Around You” and Ed & I mixed the rest of the record.

The Ghosts Around You
[See post to listen to audio]

Antenna (Acoustic)
[See post to listen to audio]

Some folks are surprised that mixing requires that much of an investment. After all, you spent all that time tracking to make sure you got just the right sound. Isn’t it now just a matter of twisting some pots and sliding some faders?

Well, no. First, it depends on the quality of the recorded tracks. It’s true that a mixing engineer can’t polish a turd and most of the time garbage in will be garbage out. But there are basic techniques to make a mix shine. Secondly, even when the tracking is glorious, there is a myriad of variables to consider when mixing the final sound. Just as a film editor can make or break a great movie, a mixing engineer can be either the barrier or the stepping stone to the sound you hoped to achieve.

And then there’s the question of who will mix your record. This can play into your budget as much how much time it takes. A good engineer should have not only good ears and knowledge of his/her gear, but an understanding of the band’s vision and where to place the sounds. When hiring a mixing engineer, listen to their previous work and talk about what your goals are. Be specific. Cite your influences and inspirations and what really resonated with you in your favorite records. The engineer can then take that feel and translate it into “more bass here, less reverb there, add a tape delay on that, and pan this hard-right”.

A byproduct of placing an emphasis on mixing is, of course, a greater need for time and money. Keep this in mind when you’re planning. If you don’t have the ideal budget for mixing, consider doing a shorter record or an EP. It’s better to have a fabulous short record than a mediocre long one. Some bands even get away with doing an incredible single and touring on that until they’ve raised the funds to make the full-length that they want. You may also want to consider a digital-only release to avoid pressing costs. And make efficient use of your tracking time by rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing before you get in the studio. Mixing is as much a part of the creative process as tracking is and you don’t want to end up rushing through it because you ran out of resources.

I came across my friend’s record a year ago and loved the way it sounded. It turned out that it was mixed by Jason Martin. Now it’s not every day that you hear of a small band hiring a mixing engineer with credentials like Jason’s. This caught my attention.

I asked Ed (the songwriter) why he decided to hire Jason. He said he wanted cohesiveness to his record. In the rough mixes, vocals popped out of nowhere; drums were distracting; the bass was too loud; and the guitars were thin. Of course, this was what Ed was expecting to hear when he received the rough mix. But he wanted to go in a different direction for the final mix. He wanted to be able to pull out different sounds and create a feel that was a little more sophisticated than what was usually done. And by budgeting for the mixing process and hiring a good mixing engineer, he had a record that did his music justice. Take a listen…

Below you’ll hear the rough mix and the final mix of one of my favorite songs from Ed’s record entitled “Changing Trains”.

Changing Trains (Rough Mix)
[See post to listen to audio]

Changing Trains (Final Mix)
[See post to listen to audio]

You can hear more of Ed’s music here. And I encourage you to pick up a copy because it’s both sonically and musically engaging (i.e. It rocks!).

You don’t have to break the bank to mix a record. You don’t need to spend 4 years doing it either. But you do need to budget and plan for a good mix.

Jesse, from the duo, Paragraphs (Domestic Wax Records) recently got in touch with me. He said he was just about done with his next EP. He had a great recording experience in San Diego at Black Box Studios, but thought he could get more feeling out of his mixes with a fresh ear. So we chatted a bit and Jesse chose Mobtown to mix the project. He was going for garage-meets-Fort-Apache and that was something I could get my head around.

Aside from absolutely loving these songs, I had a great time putting this together. Sometimes music that’s recorded well seems to mix itself. Here are three of the tracks from the EP. We hope you enjoy these as much as we do.

Gallows
[See post to listen to audio]

Old Shoes
[See post to listen to audio]

Young Republicans In Love
[See post to listen to audio]

Once a band or artist is done tracking and overdubbing the parts of a song, an engineer will mix it. This is the time when all the levels of all the individual parts (instrumentals, vocals, etc) are adjusted up and down to find the perfect mix. Reverbs are added, where necessary. Vocals are compressed if they pop out at certain points. Bum notes are muted, if they distract.

Mixing is essential. Getting the right mix can make or break a song. You don’t want everything loud. And you don’t want everything soft. Some parts you want quiet, and others you want to pop. You want to be able to hear everything cohesively as one complete piece, while also being able to discern the individual parts and create a ride through the song that carries the listener through varying ups and downs, ins and outs.

Beyond cleaning up the sound on a technical level, mixing can also be a crucial creative step, which is why one mix (or re-mix) can have a completely different feel and sound than another. Mixing can be a time to move parts of the song around, consider all the variables, and use the tools of the studio to add another layer on top of the recorded tracks. With some artists, the engineer or producer mixing the song is like an additional member of the band in terms of creative input.

Mastering is what happens when you are done mixing. It’s a process to tweak all the songs of a record so they jibe as a whole. It’s a subtle process and takes time and concentration on many different sound sources. The process is not that far from that of mixing, but it’s more global. The goal is to refine the overall sound of each song so that the album works as a unit and sounds more cohesive and pleasurable overall.

Mastering isn’t always essential, most notably for a single, depending on who your audience is and where it’s being played. Many times mastering can muddy up a record. It can make certain elements of a song harder to hear when the author of that song had different intentions. That said, mastering often has benefits and can add shine and a feeling of completion and unity to a record.

Simply put, mixing is bringing the individual parts of a song together to work as one. Mastering is bringing the individual songs of an album together to work as one. Mixing is something that should always be planned and budgeted for whereas whether to master is a decision that should be made on a case-by-case basis. Above all, there is an artistry to both processes and it’s important to choose an engineer who not only knows his/her tools, but understands the artist’s creative vision and the final goals for the album and knows how to use his/her tools and ears to achieve them.

Frank from the Honest Mistakes recently dropped by the studio to mix their song “Sidekick” which was recently on a local compilation. The mix for the compilation was good, but they asked me to pull out more from the instruments and liven up the vocals and drums. We had a lot of fun with the track. Stellar song-writing, melodic harmonies, solid guitars and wonderful drums always leads to great songs and much fun. Here’s a sample of the mix:

[See post to listen to audio]