Anatomy of a Mix
You’ve gotta start somewhere. For me, the process is similar from song to song and goes something like this:
Inspiration. An idea pops into my head. Sometimes the music comes first, sometimes a few words that turn into a lyric idea.
Composition. The process of matching the lyrics to the music and deciding on the structure of the song (ie: Verse, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Tag.) I compose on guitar or piano.
Once the song structure is set and the lyrics and music settled, time to go into the studio. At this point I’ll record a basic demo of the song; usually singing the lyrics to the music while playing it on guitar or piano, and following the all -imporetant click track.
Then I build the song track by track, most times in this order: Click track, guitar or piano “basic”, percussion, bass guitar, cleaner guitar and piano tracks and synthesizers, and finally the vocal tracks. I usually engineer my own tracking in my studio and perform all of the instruments; sometimes accompanied by a drop-in freind to play a track or sing a backing vocal. You always take great care during this part of the process to make sure you’ve nailed the two basics: in-time and in-tune. You can’t build a solid house on a poor foundation.
The mixing is next. For the past ten years I’ve trusted by good friend Wyatt BalaEddy to help me mix and master my albums. Once Wyatt and I like what we hear on the big speakers in the studio, we then do a “Car Mix”, which is a copy of the song we play in our car as we drive around the block. If that passes muster, then we “master” the track and we’re essentially done.
So, what’s it’s like in the mix? Below are some raw video shots of Wyatt BalaEddy (that’s him in the insert pix on the screen) and me mixing “Amarillo” from the album “Redemption Road”. These show four stages of the mix: guitars, vocals, more vocals/sing-along, and the final mix notes.
I’ve also included the track sheet for the song, and in it you can see that the album was originally called “The Bridge” (I later changed that to “Redemption Road”), as well as guest tracking from Bob Duncan and Tom Murray. Inside each track box I list the musician who played the track (if it wasn’t me), as well as the instrument used (I name some of my instruments to tell them apart), the mic (ie: AKG414), amplifier (ie: Fender Rumble), synthesizer (ie: “Roland”), etc. At the bottom is the “road map” of the song, by bars.
The track sheet for “Amarillo”.
That’s it. Nothing to it. Click here to go to Spotify and listen to the final version of the song (it’s song number two on the album.) Thanks for stopping by.
Greg