Image © Monika Marszalek
J talks to Prima Rosa about the mixing of Dawn Chorus Ignites latest release ‘Take Me With You’, a record which was J’s first project with the band:
What was your approach to mixing the DCI record ‘Take Me With You’?
My approach changed a few times during the mixing sessions.. at first I started in ‘default’ mix mode, which to me is make the drums heavy, then add/build from there. I guess that comes from listening to and working with so much drum focused music. Anyway this approach wasn’t suited so I had to rethink things a little. The DCI album is much more guitar focused than anything I’ve worked on before.. sure I’ve mixed lots of guitar bands, but the guitars are really the main focus point for DCI and therefore required special attention.
Getting to know the songs was key to getting the mixes on point, I’d start by listening to the ruff mixes the band had been working with. Most of the tracks were assembled using a stereo out of Protools for monitoring, so I’d listen to this a few times and make mental notes on what I thought I could add. It sounded to me like the tracks were recorded in various different places and at different times and this meant there wasn’t any real sonic glue between the instruments.. the timing etc was spot on, I’m talking more about a natural room sound. The band and whoever recorded it had done a great job at capturing a clean tight sound, but there wasn’t any natural ambience to play with.. so my main mission was to explore different ways of gluing it all together using reverb/delay effects to give an impression of space.
I’d also have to mix the songs backwards, in that a lot of the tracks really hit hard and explode towards the end so I needed to save enough headroom for those sections.. I’d find the most full on section and start from there. It’s probably the most dynamic thing I’ve ever worked on and that meant a lot of attention had to be paid to preserving headroom. Trying to find the right balance between pushing the Neve desk enough to pick up an impression of it’s tone, but then allowing enough head room for the heavy sections.. this was probably the most challenging thing about mixing the record. For example, if I wanted to add some grit to the drums, I’d do something like over patch the line outs of Protools into the Neves ‘mic’ inputs and distort the pre.. it sounds beautiful, but when the overall volume of the parts are so dynamic it doesn’t allow such controlled use, and therefore is harder to use as a static effect.
Did you have to tackle this recording differently being an instrumental piece of work?
Yeah, for the most part the instrumental music I tend to work on is electronic or has much shorter arrangements that rely on constant structure changes to maintain interest. The DCI album is the opposite, structure wise it’s mostly long and drawn out, and I guess more reflective, although it can certainly get very heavy out of no where. Because of this, I had to find a more natural sound that worked start to finish, with tracks that have lots of different sections, one after another, levels and effects can change section to section, but with the DCI tracks I had to find a sound that could stay static for a good 7 minutes. Space and depth were two of the main things on my mind when mixing, everything needed to have its pocket and work collectively.
Coming back to what I was saying about dynamics, I certainly had to readjust my default approach when it came to sound processing. I like to use guitar pedals etc for colouring sounds and that was more challenging for this project as the levels weren’t as consistent as a typical always full on recording.. something could work for 5 minutes but then required a rethink for the last 30 seconds of a track.
What’s you view on how its turned out?
I’ve just heard back some of the masters and it’s sounding massive.. big, warm, rich and very organic, ticking all the boxes for the brief really. I’m looking forward to getting a copy and enjoying it as music now.. I can’t really hear it for real until it’s on my headphones and I’m not over analysing. I find it takes time to detach yourself from the job perspective and to hear it as it really is.
How do you deal with all that reverb and distortion?!
Selective cuts mostly.. without getting to geeky, I’d basically only allow certain frequencies into the reverbs, the settings are different for every instrument/part. So for the bass guitar tracks I’d have an EQ on the bass reverb send which filtered out all the low energy before it hit the reverb. This gave the impression of the bass guitar being in an acoustic space but without all the low end muddying it up. Catering the reverbs for each instrument allowed for lots of control.
Generally I’d use the same reverb type for all instruments but have slightly different settings for each instrument. I’d use one reverb type to give the recording a sense of space and depth, then different reverb types, springs etc, for giving particular sounds a character. Along with summing everything on the Neve console, the reverbs really helped stick everything together for a overall natural sound. I’m pretty sure there would’ve been loads of automation on the reverbs also, mainly for when sections changed and something needed to be more upfront and therefore less wet.
Where does ‘Take Me With You’ stand in the J hall of fame you have worked on?
It’s up their for sure! Great guys to work with and the music’s spellbinding.. Roll on the next one!
You’ve also been working with another Prima Rosa artist Ben Solo… what have you been getting up to on that project?
This ones a very different approach, much more in my comfort zone. From my perspective its really been about giving the sounds a harder analogue edge.. using the Neve to get more from the sounds, lots of bussing signals back and fourth within the console. The Neve 51 we have is very flexible at routing things around and I take full advantage of this to colour things. There’s much less software involvement with the Ben Solo record because it’s largely already from that place, I’ve tried to mix it all out on the desk in order to round off the sounds, giving them a little more depth and shape.. plus for delays and other effects we’ve been using a lot of guitar pedals.. just more character pieces, anything to give the mixes more sonic identity rather than just the same old plugins everyones using. Its obviously subtle as Ben Solo has done all the colour work already when designing his sounds, it’s more about enhances what he’s done.
More generally what’s been your studio high point so far?
I’d say those rare moments when I get to witness a performance so gripping that I forget I’m working and become the audience.
What’s been your studio low point so far?
Oh, I once accidentally deleted all the drums parts from an EPs worth of recording.. bad times. I think they were secretly very pissed at me.. we re-did it, it sounded better from what I can remember.
What do you do normally, musically? Are you self producing/releasing?
The studio hosts a multitude of different projects, from audio book production to recording HipHop artists.. it keeps me on my toes. Personally I make music under an alias but I try and keep that separate from my job, otherwise things get a little blurry. Right now I’m just the dude who runs a studio, happy to be involved with such great projects like working on the new DCI album!
What are you looking forward to working on in the future?
I’m really up for getting involved with more D.C.I. especially at the recording stage.. it’d be great to explore an unusual acoustic space, or something to impart a sense of acoustic colour on the recordings.. I’ve just seen them play live in an Art Gallery called the Pipe and the natural acoustic of the space really suited the music. People nowadays seem to want to avoid capturing any natural resonance of a space.. I like recordings that have an overall character to them and don’t sound like they exist or come from within a computer.
What music is rocking your world right now?
I’ve been listening to the new Dimlite album ‘Grimm Reality’ whilst doing this chat, it’s pretty special.. and so good that I’m finding it pretty hard to concentrate on getting this interview done.. think I’ll have to turn it off when I proof read what I’ve written. The EPs before this album are seriously amazing works.. worth picking up.
Jay is currently studio manager at Deep Blue Studio which is part of dBs Music. www.deepbluestudio.co.uk
