Week 8 was a fun one at SAE as it was our final mix session for our rebuilt tune “Straight Out the Door”.
As mentioned in previous posts this was an excitedly daunting task, with one challenge I found early in the process was that of being able to see the end product at the beginning stages of production.
Trusting the process and sticking to the plan proved true, as the pieces of our magical blues jigsaw puzzle gradually fell into place and delivered a nice blend of our reference tracks whilst staying true to the originals tracks purpose and emotion.
Trying to keep the listener engaged throughout the tune was a key objective which we seemed to have pulled off based on the peer feedback we received when playing her in class.
It’s easy for a bluesy tune to get stale, and as we were using the bass to be the driving force/ footsteps of our track it was rewarding to see our audience boppin their heads and tappin their toes along to the pace of the bass early in the track. We then introduce, and blend, a range of instruments throughout to keep the track feeling fresh- a combination of highlighting each musicians skills through brass and guitar solos and a change of focus in the mix, some done more subtle and others not-so.
The teamwork again displayed throughout the process was the defining factor in this all coming together smoothly. Not everyone could make every recording or mix session but we managed our schedules fairly so the workload was appropriately shared and again I thank my team for the extra hours they each put in during the comping and extra recording sessions.
Mr Clarke’s (and also Mr Liwanag’s) advice was valuable throughout the process and having Mr Clarke's input in the final mix session definitely helped us in getting the best out of our mix, particularly in regards to keeping the audience engaged through the change in lead instrument focus as mentioned above.
But enough from me, judge for yourself. Here’s “Straight Out The Door”
https://soundcloud.com/user-560143268/aus220-group-1-straight-out-the-door-blues-mix/s-dKGFV