Sunday, October 05, 2008

New Rant


New Rant

Mixing in the studio means……

On the negative side,

Trying to work out just what you were trying to do the night before, hating the guy who played that tricky bass line when you know it was you, spending hours editing guitar parts & still loathing them, mixing until the sound goes the same colour as plasticine….brown. Second guessing every move, trying to be a critic when all you want is a fresh pair of ears, hating it one day then listening weeks later & realising your first idea was right, loathing your inability to reproduce exactly what you hear in your head, constantly questioning your talents, depression, angst, trying to work out just what you wanted to say, loneliness, desperation,when you hear the same track for the 100th time & still hate it, been afraid to scrap it & start from scratch. Doubt.

On the plus side,

Never having to negotiate with drummers & guitar players, editing samples from the real world & creating music,been smart, waking up the next day & loving what you did late at night, honouring mistakes as idea’s, making your own decisions with no compromise,beer, vodka ( even better when trying to play difficult drum fills), happiness, order, having a break when you feel like it, never looking at the clock to see how much more time you can afford, not having to listen to studio engineers telling you “you can’t do that ! they are platinum coated knobs mate ! “, never having to negotiate a single move, freedom, creativity, knowing you won’t have to “play it live”, Taking a sample of the crowd noise in the Auckland museum & mixing it in to a track, originality, bliss…..

Don’t get me wrong, I like collaborating with other people, the blending of cultures & idea’s works for me, I just hate mixing tracks on my own. I love it when I can send a sketch of a track to someone & they offer their input. Only one person in the world at the moment can do this who I would change a single note for.


Listening to:

The sounds of the Seychelles ( Island People )
Weather Report
Jeff Beck
Kings of Leon ( new single in NZ )
Shihad

Watching:

Lust for life
Basquiat
Pollock

1 comment:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Hell, being a Yorkshire Pudding, I know all there is to know about mixing mate! Eggs, flour, milk, a pinch of salt then beat it!

Actualy, I envy you for taking your original musical talent to another level. All of my songs evaporated into thin air - an insular, personal journey that nobody ever tapped into. Perhaps it was my own fault.