Mixing
I recently completed a long intense music recording project. The recording, a soon to be released CD called, “The Feast of Life” from singer, songwriter Lydia Ruffin was a labor of love. Alongside engineer and outstanding keyboardist, Pete Ruthenburg, we mixed and we mixed and we mixed until one day late in August 09 we had no more to mix. And before the unique experience I had fades I thought I’d relay some of the wonderful complexities of this process.
What is mixing? It’s the process of editing, effecting and polishing all of the original parts that were recorded for a particular song. This of course comes after a multi-month period where the music is first written, arranged and performed-often one painstaking part at a time. We did a lot of re-recording too; re-thinking certain songs along the way-scrapping an old drum part with a new one for instance.
But mixing requires a different set of ears and it often takes about an hour or so each day for me to fine tune my ears to the level of detail that is required for essential decision making. It’s a lot like warming up your voice to sing. It’s like your ear is a muscle.
Is this part “pitchy” (out of tune), is it rhythmically accurate or does it push or lag behind the beat? What is the core essence of a tune? What parts are at the heart of this song and how do I maximize their impact? What sort of EQ or reverb or digital delay (echo) does Lydia’s voice need? Is it sitting too low or too hot in the mix? Does it glisten enough?
It is a “present tense” art form. If you drift for a second you miss something important. Pulling one part down changes the way the listener perceives everything else. It’s all interwoven. Your ear has to be able to hear the sum of all the parts and each individual part at the same time! It’s a blend of technical and artistic considerations.
Then one must consider that each person brings their own likes, dislikes, identities, expectations to the process. It is often like group therapy in the control booth. You realize that you have your own ears but that you also must listen through the ears of your partners and most essentially the artist. In this case Lydia was a dream to work with.
Lydia is not only a fabulous, versatile singer and writer but she has great production ears.
She has good instincts for what is and is not working. And when everyone pushes everyone else, the overall achievement is greater. The music deeper. The amount of trust that has to be there is considerable.
Mixing is like climbing a mountain- all you can do is pay attention to each reach of the hand and step of the foot-especially the higher you go. There is no relaxing or even much enjoyment-yet.
But then in an odd, almost unexpected way, you reach the summit. You breath deeply and all of a sudden you get this rush of deep joy and satisfaction. We made some good music I think. I hope you will take the time to listen to our work and that you will enjoy it as well. It will be buyable the week of September 21. Stay tuned for details.