A Brave Mix

So March seemed to speed past like a blur! I had a couple wicked jobs over the course of March and some other releases happening I had previously worked on.

First> Jesiah, a long time friend and front man of “Intertransit” approached me to mix a radio release of a song called “The Air” for a radio contest and although they came in second there was heaps of great response to the song. Props to my good friend Phil Blackbourn for mastering it over night for us.

Next> The 2nd Foursqure Puyallup “United Generation” live album “All Things” (I tracked and edited, mixed by Jim Monk and Andrew Crawford at 11th Hour Studios in Sydney AU) release at their annual UG Conference and on iTunes. It charted up to #13 at last check on the Contemporary Christian/Gospel charts on iTunes. Not too bad if I do say so myself! Well done boys and girls!

Third> I had the privileged of being asked to mix two new tracks for The Calling of Levi, a pop rock band from Peth AU. The songs were fresh and the guys were a pleasure to work with. I was very happy with the results and had the honour to hand deliver them to Sterling Sound to be mastered by legendary mastering engineer George Marino (Arcade Fire, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, The Strokes, Michael Buble, and on and on). I look forward to hopefully getting to mix more for them in the future. In the future I will put up some copies for listen only with links to purchase on iTunes when they are officially released.

Forth> I am scheduled to mix a new, full, studio version of a track off the United Generation “All Things” album for a separate compilation this week! I am really pumped!!

Lastly> I will be posting some new promotions for April so watch this space… and twitter!

After recently completing the radio mix for Intertransit’s “In The Air” I thought I would post a new In Line Mix Demo video for all to enjoy and maybe learn a bit about the finer details relating to the benefits of hiring a mix engineer who is skilled at mixing for radio and broadcast. Often these things are completely overlooked and band post and submit songs to radio and broadcast outlets and the translation of the mix they were happy with results in disappointment or embarrassing, vocal heavy, volume ducking, half representations of their hard work. So have a look and a listen and hopefully it is useful!

Description:

This demo (third in a continuing ‘educational’ series) offers a look at a slightly different scenario. This song was tracked in a ‘professional’ studio, but mixed by the tracking engineer originally (the ‘Before’ examples) and intended for radio. Though the engineer did an alright job, as you will hear, the client wasn’t FULLY satisfied and knowing the intended purpose for radio air play sought out a specialised mix engineer (James Hurley) to do a ‘radio mix’, a mix specifically for radio or other (internet, television) broadcast. The major differences you will notice in the ‘After’ examples are things like the stereo field being wider, the overall sound being bigger, being able to hear more elements in the mix like the rhythm electrics, a warmer tone (not as bright, brittle, thin, or harsh), and the vocal sits better with the band. A lot of these improvements required experienced use of tools like compressors and EQs. (NOTE: don’t leave it up to the mastering engineer to fix. These mixes were level matched to industry standard RMS with a limiter to emphasise that if its not right in the mix a mastering engineer wont be able to fix it.)

Often engineers without experience mixing for radio/broadcast attempt similar results simply by volume automations and such. The main problem with this is broadcast limiters that are quick to grab and slow to let go. Ever listen to the radio and all of a sudden the volume drops then slowly comes back up? That was probably a broadcast limiter triggered (usually) by a peak in the mix that wasn’t properly controlled with skilled use of compression. Still other engineers attempt to use compression and wind up ‘choking’ the sound or removing punch or contribute to other degradations (‘over compressed’).

More evidences of a track that wasn’t sent off to be mixed specifically for radio/broadcasting: in the shops when you hear a song which is mostly vocals (and or snare) and there are no hooks or melodic support, or the vocal is barely audible at all, same two scenarios but in a moving car, a song played through a TV with similar issues and/or that ‘farts’ or pops or crackles ect.

The In Line Demo:
This is an ‘in line’ demo of the results you get from hiring a professional mix engineer, specifically James Hurley, to mix your EP, Album, or radio single.

If you are serious about your music, then do everything possible to make your music sound like you are serious about it. Bringing in a professional mix engineer adds a new dimensions to your project namely experience, perspective, and fresh ears. All to often, young gun producers can become too protective over your project and tend to become narrow minded across the length of the project. Their (and your) ears become tired. You become so familiar with the sound of your songs that you may be totally satisfied but unaware of how much better your songs COULD sound. This results in a product EVERYONE can be proud of.

Additionally, most producers and record engineer don’t spend hours per day perfecting the skills needed to objectively mix a song, learn current industry trends, and train their ears to hear things most people would miss.

With the rise in popularity of DIY recording gear, and the seemingly ever growing popularity of the desire by every Tom, Dick, and Harriet, to be a ‘producer’, most people are forgetting the value in using professionals to achieve professional results. Hopefully these demos give a bit of perspective.

Jesiah of Intertransit had some kind (and maybe a little cheeky, haha) words to say about my recent mix of their track “The Air” which hit radio on Feb. 11th, 2011:

“James helped us step by step get the song to where we wanted… and then cranked the awesome knob…”

and

“I wouldn’t want The Air on ‘the air’ any other way than having it mixed at A Brave Mix (James Hurley).”