Interesting thread, thanks for starting it! My intent was to keep it as close to 1999 as possible as more or less a gift to these guys. There are so many talented musicians we never get to know, and as a fellow musician, I really felt for this project. (Imagine your tapes resurfacing 2 decades later!) Given that they tracked on a Neve, I immediately thought of Nirvana’s Nevermind and how it went from a Neve and finished on Andy Wallace’s SSL. So I reached for all the SSL tools I had at the get-go. (I gave a minuscule treatment of the guitar and vocals though a Trident EQ as well). My first rough mix was done in a about 1.5 hrs. And then… I spiraled HORRIBLY on and off with alternative ideas… ultimately to come back to my original mix with a little automation. lol.
The two major things I did:
1) Took out the drum fill following the solo guitar riff towards the end. I just couldn’t punch them the way I wanted. However, by cutting it out, I really liked the way the band just slams in on the downbeat in punk-like fashion. It also gave that guitar break the full spotlight.
2) Added some heavy-duty phasing to the guitars at the end. There was a tinge of it already there. So, I just exaggerated it to make it more like a new level for the outtro.
Other decisions:
I let the guitars and vocals have more upfront placement as the lead players. I would have preferred the drums a little more upfront but again there was something ‘polite’ (to quote Warren on the snare) about some of the attack that I couldn’t get without introducing samples. (Still working on my skills!).
I had fun with the vocals using SoundToy’s Alterboy. I approached the harmonies as little devil’s on the shoulder adding to the narrative by panning them here and there. (They really do push the story).
After submitting, I then realized I could have done more. I probably would have cut out the bass intro like I did the one drum fill and just made the band come slamming in. I remember Warren calling the bass ‘evil’. lol. Yeah. Tighten up the down-tuned bass was tricky for me. So, a separate track was made with a tighter attack for those moments when it was soloed.
As for LUFS, I targeted a little low at -14 because of SoundCloud. I probably should have gone up to more of a CD around -9/-10. I also wanted more headroom like a 90’s recording and didn’t crush it. It was a bit of a dilemma because I did want a little more crunch. In any event, what a fun project! I’d almost like to do the entire album for these guys. They really deserve it.
Lastly, I’m really impressed with some of the results here. So many talented mixers out there – Best of luck to all!
