Fytakyte: 'Outa Control'_mix Tommy M.

[tjmtruth]

Hi Tommy, first of all - I quite like the decisions you made in your mix. I have no problem with them at all, and there is certainly no need to apologise. Your decisions are respectful to the concept of the track and honour the intention of the song - so well done with that!

I've mentioned this before regarding the tracks I have posted for mixing here, but I'll mention it again: These songs are generally conceived originally in my mind to be played and sound "complete" with a three piece lineup - guitar, bass and drums (& vocals, of course). So the backbone is there, and theoretically, they could be stripped back to that and still remain intact.

However, artististically at the point when I recorded these tracks, I was more interested in developing a fuller, more elaborate style of production, and a more engaging and intricate soundscape - one that rewards repeated listens by revealing more layers of detail and interest. Of course, this results in a fairly hefty track count, which can be quite a challenge to mix - I get that - I mixed the album!

Some seem to interpret this as a lack of decisiveness and direction in the production. I find this puzzling, because I can assure everyone that no such state of mind has ever plagued me - even for a second. I don't say that because I'm arrogant about my production skills - To the contrary, I continue to learn and grow with each song I produce - It is just the plain truth about my decision-making process for these tracks.

The fact is, each track, instrumental part and each vocal layer are there for a very specific purpose, with the goal of achieving the sonic vision/outcome that I had in my mind's ear.

Of course, the difficulty with someone else mixing the track is that they are coming at it from an outside perspective, without my(very specific and personal) focus. Following that line of thought, one thing I've read many times about tracks mixed on this site (when decrying the lack of apparent direction in the multitrack files) is "we don't have input from the artist'. To which I would respond "yes you do - it's called the Preview Mix!"

The preview mix is in almost all cases the one the artist approved. The fact is, mixing is really all about listening first and foremost. If anyone wants to learn how to mix professionally, (and that is, I gather, the goal of many who frequent here) then learning how to listen and carefully analyse the preview mix so as to determine the intent of the artist/producer, is an absolutely vital skill that needs to happen before a fader is touched, or a plugin instantiated.

One of the reasons I also made available premixed stems taken from the preview mix premaster along with the multitracks was because I thought it may help dissect the preview mix in a more insightful way. I was hoping it may give more clues as to the roles intended for each of the parts of the song. I'm not sure if anyone is taking advantage of this sort of "forensic mix deconstruction" (as I see it), but I know I would love to have that sort of assistance when mixing a complex track that I hadn't been party to producing... Anyhoo... rant over!

To your mix...
I like the tighter, dryer presentation of the soundstage - it works well, and gives the song a slightly rawer edge.

The overall frequency spread is good too. Clear in the top and mids, tight and punchy in the low end.

The prechoruses hit nice and hard, and you retained the more flowing essence of the chorus in a more minimal way, which made a lot of space for the backing vocals.

The one thing that I think could improve is the compression on the bass. The attack of the bass notes seem to jump out very noticeably, and in a slightly uneven way. In fact, at times I wonder if it might be exacerbated by some "pumping" in the mix buss compression. Without knowing exactly what is going on, it's a bit hard to put my finger on it what is giving me the impression of things "pumping" and jumping out in a slightly distracting way.

Overall though, I quite enjoyed your take on it - nice work!

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Andrew (I think that's your name),

Thanks so much for your detailed response. I know exactly how you feel and I agree about everything you said regarding what is in YOUR (the artist's) head. We all have that same thing going on in our heads, well, those of us who write music as well as produce it, etc.

I recall a recent project where I produced an entire CD for a friend who re-wrote 8 songs from an old cassette of his brother's songs from the 80's. His brother died some years back and the cassette was going to be thrown in the dumpster when he grabbed it and listened to it. In his memory/honor, he literally reproduced every note from scratch (and even managed to bring in the original singer) and the project was off to the races. Since he lives kind of far from me, we WERE able to do most of the project with me sitting here at a distance. But, when it came to the final "tweaking," he drove down here and we had a massive session ironing out a bunch of things. My point is, I needed him here, with HIS ear, so that HIS idea of the final mix could be achieved. I valued that greatly and the final product was what HE heard in HIS head.

You see, there were things I tried during that project that he didn't like and asked me to try something else. I had originally sound-replaced the toms altogether and he hated it. So, I buried myself in my studio for days on end getting the original toms to sound right.....was worth the effort because the drums really were recorded pretty well and I was just not yet able to work out the toms correctly. The drums were recorded in the Acme Studios in New York where Boz Scaggs had done some recording as well as the Spin Doctors and many others. My friend wanted THAT room sound (THAT drum sound) and I had to give it to him, so I know exactly what you mean in every respect.

What was great about actually being in constant communication with him and sending him the pieces of the project as it evolved, was that I got the feedback I needed from him to keep the project going in HIS direction. We all have our own ideas on how things should sound. The project was reviewed by some biggies in the industry and they said my mixes were great and so I'm very proud of the endless hours of work I put into that project, but I digress.

Anyway, this is getting really long so I'll sign off. To close, I so appreciated your song and like it a lot! Perhaps I'll go back in there, put in the acoustic guitars, correct the bass issues and submit another mix. I want to thank you for the props and I wish you all the best in your endeavors. See ya again on here in this forum. :-)

Tom