Bloody Hell (US readers read "Damn!"), Bochum is quiet on Sundays. I will never again have a day off here. I can only watch SO much football... but I am rested. Olaf, alas, is not. His is getting sick. He is a shivering wreck, but we have only two days left. he can make it. Today we resume work on Diminished Ex and that piano is still not right. The EQ is too extreme and the reverb is, too. We undo the EQ and back of the reverb and it's OK... We must have been tired on Friday. From there it is just a question of fine tuning a few guitar levels and their panning (are they L or R?). Annoyingly, it takes about 5 tries to get the final guitar in position, and by then it's 3PM, but the songs sounds just right... On to Opposites Day. Somehow or other I got sidetracked on this one. The percussion is lovely but it slows the song, making it groovy but diminishing the driving nature (the essential nature) of the beat. Thankfully, my son Will emailed his comments about the first mix, as only he really can relay his points just so (everyone else holds me in some sort of position of respect whereby criticism is at worst polite). Here's what he wrote - "Sorry but I hate, and I mean HATE the shaker/washboard thing on Opposites Day. The mix sounds great but frankly it kills the whole thing for me." Actually I respect his opinions and he brings a perspective to the operation that I have for a long time not had, so I listen. And I compare the new mix with the rough mix and he has a point... This song should be a rock/pop song. Not a pop/rock song. We get to work with this in mind. And it isn't difficult. We ditch the shaker, we keep the tambourine. We raise the rhythm guitars and change the panning to add impact to the various parts. We then do some Motown trick on the drums (I cannot remember the exact term but we take the whole kit, re-compress it and then sum it with the existing kit, giving it more 'front'). We then do the same with my vocal, which sounded lovely with the previous mix, but now sounds rather reverby and polite, and by 6PM we have it. We think... listening now, just before midnight, I think we do have it. Tomorrow we will look at several minor issues - is the reverb too loud on the second line of song x, etc... This will take another day, but today was the last day (hopefully) of big decisions. |
