Mixing is hard.

That’s probably a pretty obvious statement, but we are in what to date is easily the hardest part of the project so far – the mixing stage.  Here is where you have to put your ego aside.  For almost 2 years now we have been recording and building this project, and now we get to tear it all up and decide what needs to be changed, altered (read: reverb, chorus, compression, etc.) or taken out completely.

The good news?  With today’s technology, anything can be changed.

The bad news?  With today’s technology, anything can be changed.

It’s a painstaking process, that involves dying to self for sure — I mean, it’s bad to hear that your vocals sucked at 2:24, right at the pivotal moment of the song… but it’s even worse to leave the bad vocals in there for the rest of time!  It’s amazing what a little well-placed compression or reverb will do, and I make no apologies for tweaking the tunes so the product you hear is the most excellent possible.

If you haven’t had a chance yet, download this song – you’ll be amazed at how different it sounds post-production (after the mix).

Sometime in the next couple of days, I’ll include a glossary of terms for those of you who aren’t musicians and are curious what all these funny phrases are like “post production” “Verb” “compression”, etc.

In the mean time I need to go back to work – so leave us a comment.  Do you have a craft / art?  If so, what’s the most painstaking part of the process in your opinion?

Tim