Well, it's Tuesday, and my mix is up. I didn't think I'd be able to participate, but I found a few hours tonight and dove in, mangling audio along the way.
In case you missed the previous post in which this song appeared, I recorded this one (and IMP7).
The band is Pleasant Grove, and the song called Luzern. This was recorded on a Monday evening, I think, for a benefit CD just released here in Dallas. We had one evening. Marcus, the singer/songwriter came in still undecided on which song we'd be recording that night. He ran through a few on acoustic, made some lyric changes, and settled on this one.
First, we recorded a scratch vox and guitar. This first take is what we kept. For those wondering whether Marcus was drunk, why yes, he was. We both were. And it was also the first take. But quickly the guitar became a secondary element, and the performance did capture, uh, something.
We then did a first take on vocals. Again, this is what you hear. Marcus asked for a really close, lip-smacking tone in his headphones. I have no outboard compressors, so I put a smashing Blockfish comp across the input and recorded to disc. The harmonies on the last chorus are there only because Marcus gets bored and sang something different when we were stacking voices. I tried to keep him in line, but I also wasn't too worried. Panned L/C/R, the three voices were already sounding good. Lawson L47FET through an OSA MP1-C. I didn't hear any digital distortion on the track. Lots of sibilance. Maybe that's what's being heard? Dunno. The performance is great: I love it when Marcus runs out of breath. Why would we replace that?
The bassist Tony finally showed up. He didn't know the song. So we ran through it a few times. During the run-throughs, we settled on my suggestion of the high-E pedal tone chorus part. Tracked it direct through an OSA MP1-L3. What you got was a quick comp of two takes. And then the bassist went home.
The drummer never showed up. Oddly enough, a drummer friend of mine was hanging out. We threw him on the kit after realizing Marcus was hopeless with all his big tom fills and nonsense. My friend is a big "jam band" drummer and brought an interesting slant to the tune. But after about two hours of takes, and a lot of wrestling with the parts, we said goodnight to the drummer friend, thanked him for his time, and then erased the takes. Marcus was back on kit and I told him to play only kick, hat and snare. We got the simple beat you have here. Then we doubled it. Threw them up hard L/R and Marcus loved it. Snare = 57s. Kick beater = MD421, reso = RE20. OH = Lawson L47.
Then Marcus toddled over to the Wurly and I threw up a 421 in front one of the tiny built-in speakers. After finding the part, we tracked it. Next.
Marcus was worried it wasn't vibing enough. He asked for a synth patch, but wasn't happy with anything we were getting. He went out to smoke and I hooked up the Rhodes to my Z Vex Fuzz Factory and then into a Peavey Classic 50 mic'd with another 421, I think. Instant destruction. I showed him the interaction between the knobs on the pedal and sat him down. This is another first take.
Then the "Chop" part which is my tele played through a POD in the control room. We threw a hard, chopping tremolo on it in Cubase and ran.
Then I did a very ugly doubling of the bass, again with the tele through the POD. Another first take, as it was getting late and we were out of beer. I was drunk and though I'd heard the song a bajilion times, I realized I didn't really know how to play it. Whatever. It was meant as a very small part (though comes through pretty forward in my mix. Go figure).
So, was this "Indie"? I don't know. It was fun, fast and we came out with a product we were very happy with. In that it was done for zero dollars, I'd say it was pretty Indie. In that the song is amazingly potent and reaching, I'd say it's pretty Indie, too.
In my mix, I didn't edit anything. Didn't pitch anything. No grids. My delays aren't even tempo-synched. It's a mess - and I love it. I just tried to "vibe" this as much as possible, taking heed of J. Hall's original advice. I like what I've done, and the exercise definitely got me listening more carefully.
Thanks to everyone who participates. Can't wait to hear the results!
Thanks,
Lindsay Graham
