This week in class we talked about the concept of mixing being just as much of a creative ordeal as it is fixative and how certain creative decisions in the mixing stage of producing a record can result in a vastly different final product.
For example, on the track ‘The Bath Of Stars’ by Art Bears, Dagmar Krause’s already eerie vocals are doubled by a haunting whisper that is mixed to be intentionally ‘too close for comfort’. Additionally, “odd, reversed vocals are driven by dissonant guitar and eventually overtaken by the sludgy, downcast pound of drums and piano.”(Para 8, Leone, 2004)
Without this creative decision within the mixing process, the track would be much less successful in presenting this vision of discomfort and tension.
The idea of making creative decisions in the mixing process in order to better present the artists idea and message is crucial when it comes to mixing and the role of a mixing engineer.
We also looked at the importance of using reference tracks when mixing.
“A reference track is a professionally recorded song from another artist representative of how you want your music to sound.” (isotope, 2023)
It is useful to have a backlog of songs that showcase certain things that you would like to achieve in your own production. I had a think about what songs I would choose to reference and I decided on:
Bleujen an Howl – Daisy Rickman for bowed string drones
Jockey full of Bourbon – Tom Waits for a twangy guitar
Marian – Sisters of Mercy for mixing deep vocals
Sunflower River Blues – John Fahey for solo acoustic guitar
I would like to incorporate reference tracks when working on my own music more in the future as I believe that having something to compare certain aspects of your work to can be helpful in deciding which changes to make.
isotope (2023) What is a reference track and how to use it, iZotope. Available at: https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/what-is-a-reference-track.html#:~:text=A%20reference%20track%20is%20a,your%20own%20music%20to%20sound. (Accessed: 18 April 2024).
Leone, D. (2004) Art bears: Art box, Pitchfork. Available at: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/429-art-box/ (Accessed: 18 April 2024).