hella good

So the tedious process of editing down tracks for mix is well underway for Town Monster. This is an interesting time in the process because you have to remain disciplined. I have a tendency to want to move fast, especially when ideas hit me and I've tried hard to resist that urge over the past few weeks. This part of the process involves core editing and basic tonal shaping both on individual instruments and in the context of the entire mix. As much as I want to just dig in and start banging out mixes, I am trying to be careful to make sure the foundation is solid before adding any signficant "production".

In the past, I remember all the additive things I would try to do to mixes, to make them sound more "pro", I guess would be one descriptor. Rarely though did that approach prove fruitful. I'm finding more and more that taking a more "subtractive" versus 'additive" approach ends up sounding better and ultimately reveals the true essence of the song. It is also fair to say that this is a much more difficult process to master. I think we all have a tendency to be more additive than subtractive in most of our daily lives. Of course, having great musicians and songwriters doesn't hurt.

Last night, we did listen to several different CD's of all sorts of different genres, just to dicuss different production approaches and techniques, etc. I was really pleased with 2 things in particular, 1. even unfinished, the TM stuff is standing up to everything we listened to and 2. their "sound" is unique and distinctive. It is the essence of who they are and you can feel it when you listen.

Lastly, one of the songs we listened to was "Hella Good" by No Doubt. Whether you like them or not ( i don't like Gwen's lyrics) that song is probably the single best mixed pop song I have ever heard, period. Just listen to it.