Ektopia

The Daily Adventures of Mixerman - A Documentary Part 1

At the end of July ‘02 an anonymous studio engineer (Mixerman) in LA set out to record a newly signed band’s first CD with a famous producer. He also decided to document the daily happenings and post the details onto a recording resource site (ProSoundWeb) as an insight to the music industry and a handful of its characters.

Before he started he spoke about the project, “or it could be the most uneventful album I’ve ever made. But, somehow I doubt that”. Even though he doubted it would be uneventful I’m sure that he couldn’t have predicted what a hilarious story would unfolded before his eyes (and ears!). As well as his daily news Mixerman sometimes goes "off topic" (which he tends to do quite often) he delivers valuable insights into many areas of the recording process (recording, mixing, mastering etc.).

The transcript is very long (I printed out the first 8 weeks and it was over 120 pages long) but its set out in days and weeks making it easy to follow and catch up. It’s by far one of the funniest things I have ever read.

Update (09/12/02) The Daily Adventures of Mixerman - The New York Chronicles Part 2

This is the Jack Leg version of the amazing Ben Folds Five tune Don’t Change Your Plans. Two things to say about this tune, firstly I am sorry to any hardcore BBF lovers (the original is such a beautiful tune) and secondly, I’m chuffed with how this tune turned out!

Geek stuff if you want it: Battery for the drums with a customised funk kit for the snares (and just for fun), lots of guitars (and loads of overdubs!), bass and a simple double tracked vocal with no harmonies at all (all taken care of by the guitars in the middle) and the now obligatory shaker! Of note is that I used a great little foot pedal for part of the guitar solo, it’s a Colorsound Wah/Fuzz/Swell that dates from the 60s. It’s a great bit of kit that sometimes picks up foreign radio when you turn the fuzz and the wah up full and the volume on the guitar all the way down!! Talking of the solo…there’s even some duelling left and right guitars going on Iron Maiden stylee! Maybe I should work on my Bruce Dickinson vocal and do an Iron Maiden tune next (or maybe not)! This mix is version 1.3

187 seconds (2.9 meg)

Update (21/06/04) I get most of my referred hits from people searching for information about the Colorsound Wah/Fuzz/Swell pedal, just thought I would mention it!