Sublime Mixing!

I've had a day to recover, so now I can report on one of the best mix days
I've had in a long time.

The day started with Kevin Ryan coming over to the studio early to deliver
the song "Blue Day" to Craig Byrnes. Craig and I were both impressed with
the track, and we scheduled time to do vocals, instrumental overdubs, and
mix. Craig showed up with a couple of new tunes as well. Both Kevin and I
thought that they had some promise.

After Craig left, we got some lunch and came back to set up to mix Jeff
Skiba's songs, "Burn With My Fire", and "Don't Leave Me Hangin' On". Kevin
had done some backing vocals for the chorus of Don' Leave, so we imported
them first, and they sounded great. We noticed that his hi hat tracked had
slipped forward during file conversion, (yikes!), so we corrected that
and the groove instantly improved about one hundred percent. Kevin went
into the studio to play the Yamaha 7' grand while I set up the console and
aligned the tape machines for the mix. Just having Kevin there made the
vibe better than normal for a mix set up. I enjoyed his playing and I
thought about his experience at Abbey Road Studios just a few days ago.
I had a bonafide pilgrim in my midst!

My set up went quickly and I began mixing right on schedule at 2pm. I
started with "Burn....", and it became immediately apparent that Kevin's
parts were recorded to sound good on the front end. My mixing job was made
super easy due to the care he showed to the sounds of the performances he
recorded. The session turned out to be totally easy to blend and EQ. By
the time Jeff arrived, I was putting the finishing touches on the first mix.
We made a few tweaks, got Steve Christensen to listen with us, and we laid
it down to 1/4" and DAT. The 1/4" really sounded great!!

Kevin had to leave us before we started the last song, (something about his
dog, Peanut, being unsupervised--potential yukkiness avoided I hope). Then
we imported the files into the mix template and started on "Don't
Leave...:".

Now, by this time, I knew that the mix of "Burn, was superior, but I was
unprepared for the rock solid vibe of "Don't Leave.... This song is a
ballad, and Jeff had really sung it well. I just pulling the lead vocal up
louder and louder and it just kept sounding better!! I ended up spending
the most time of all on the last 4 bars of the song, cobbling an ending out
of Kevin's track. It turned out great, and the sound was fantastic. When
we finished, I was exhausted, but really happy, and Jeff was too.

When I woke up this morning, I put the CD in before I showered, and I ended
up listening through the songs 3 times, just enjoying the vibe. Rarely, if
ever, have I simply enjoyed a mix for the sound of the song on the day after
execution!

I got a chance to talk to Jeff today, and we both agreed that the work was
solid. Heck Yeah!!!

Today was spent in a long meeting with Sarah Sharp. It is my intention to
get her and Kevin Ryan working together on some of her new songs. Sarah and
I also strategized on getting a full length CD funded and recorded. I am
super pumped about starting work on more songs with Sarah, her band, and
possibly Kevin as well. I call Matthew Knowles at Music World in the hopes
that he might have some interest in our work. Fingers are crossed.

Finally, I got my budget to Pale. I spoke briefly with manager, Tim Plant,
and it sounds as if that project is going to be a go!!!!! Now, I wonder
what's up with Adamo???? Zack, if your reading, drop me an email re:
tracking progress.

I'm out! All this and I bought a cool new car today-- a Ford Focus ZX5.
It's the new, and much improved, producer-mobile. I'll call it "The Duke"
in honor of it's predecessor, (which was also known as the 'humility
mobile').

the big mixing love,
-Dan