Catching up

I recently ended a busy summer packed with various clients in studio and topped it off with a marathon as I wrapped up projects for Pony Girl and John Allaire. Apart from days off with my son I have been home to sleep and occasionally eat, and my summer tan is already fading into its usual winter pastiness (I think I need more windows in the control room). The mixes were barely sent off for mastering, followed by celebratory wine, before I returned to the cave to pick up on where I left off with Meredith Luce's record.

First: Pony Girl

While concurrently finishing up John Allaire's collaboration record, the Pony Girl mixes made sure I was up early and at the desk with my daily caffeine and breakfast bagel over the last few weeks.

I have worked with these guys a few times over the years in various incarnations of their projects and this past summer they were busy self-producing a new record.  Always the types to push their own boundaries, I knew it was going to be a challenging yet fun record to mix. They brought me the finished songs to mix at the tail end of the summer with a strict deadline and, as I began to organize the mix sessions, I was stunned with the unique artistry behind all the tracks.

With a few exceptions of material recorded with me in studio, the PG crew tracked and worked and reworked their material at home.  The record is peppered with all kinds of interesting sound design (coins dropping into a bucket of water, boiling kettles, clocks, garbage cans and more mystery sounds) so it took some time to grasp how to approach the mixing process.  For the most part the band didn't provide  many rough mixes to use as a reference for what direction they wanted the sound to take, so the first draft of the first song was a nightmare-mishmash of styles that was quickly shot down. A few discussions later, conflicting information was sorted out and we were off.

It made for a fun, yet very intense couple of weeks.  The band would be sending me revisions of songs while I was mixing others, sending over extra files for ongoing mixes and sending mix feedback as I completed and revised the drafts. Eventually we got the tunes to a place we were all happy with and the next day it was off to Mojito Mastering.

(click on poster for more info)

The record features a 15-piece ensemble recorded in studio; I was in the control room and couldn't see that they were filming the session but you can watch it here.

And the rest of the summer... to be continued.