Mixing Update!!!
posted by Ray on Nov 10, 2009 7:07pm
Mixing with our good buddy Rich Costey is going great. So far, he's mixed 9 songs, and they all sound fucking stellar. He had an interesting process where he started out mixing some of the looser songs first, and then ramped up to the denser stuff. Our goal in mixing is to make it loud, and then make it louder then that. "Still Alive" was an early one, and he brought a real heaviness and aggressiveness to that song. Song is very drum and bass oriented, very different for us, but still rocks at the same time. A bit of Queen influenced guitar harmonies helps on that song.
"Save Yourself" was another early one, a mix of Judas Priest metal and 80's arena rock. That song went through a lot of different permutations, and finally we settled on this vibe that took us to new territory. We then got into a song called "The Only Hope For Me Is You," and that's where things really starting clicking with Rich. What was great was each song would just sound better and bigger than the last. As some of you had guessed from a twitter thing of mine (I refuse to call it a tweet), David Campbell did a bit of work on the record, and that's one of the songs he arranged for. Costey did this crazy effect with the strings going into the last chorus that blew me away. One of my favorite tracks.
"Trans Am" and "Death Before Disco" came next. "Disco" you may have heard at the Roxy shows or from Youtube videos of Summersonic. So happy with the way that mix turned out. I have to drive REALLY FAST when I listen to it. I think that's a hallmark of a great rock song. "Trans Am" is an epic take on "Born To Run" in 4 minutes. When we wrote this song, it was HUGE for us. Really opened our hearts and ears during the writing process. Frank, thanks for noodling and G, good ear to make a song out of it. You guys will love this song. Another favorite. Looking forward to more mixes, we got coming up "Kiss The Ring," which we also played at Roxy. I really can't wait for "Black Dragon Fighting Society," our ode to Misfits punk. Song kinda shreds!
Mixing is a great thing. The ideas continue to flow, and like they say, writing is never done. FYI any of the song titles mentioned are still tentative, you know how we like to change things up!!!
Ray
