We've shown the back of many a head in a mixing studio, but few wiser than Russell.

Howdy folks, back from mixing with a copy of Twice Shy Girl in my hand...on my disc...err..stick.

But enough of that. One more song done, one more set of lessons learned.

Lessons? you say..Such as?

Funny you should ask, I was just going to rant a bit anyway..

-We Like Room Mikes and Real Amps

I've been banging on about ambient sound for a while now. This recording saw us using mike'd amps and room mics and such like to get a live sound, as opposed to Direct Input.

This meant using the original pedals and configurations that Rosie and Mr Wizard have on their gear during live shows.

Theo is also a big fan of John Bonham sounding drums and likes lots of  room sound in his drum mix..

- Don't pro tools the life out of it.

A great quote from Russell, in response to a request from Mr Wizard for removal of a teeny extraneous noise in his slide track.

Instead of removing all the bits between phrases, a lot of the squeaks and pops have been left in. As Russell said,'if this was pop music, you'd clean it all up, but you guys are an earthy, rootsy klnd of band.'

By that I think he is either referring to Facial hair or a general look of being Broke. 

What I think it does is sum up the air in the recording. Each track has a little 'Air' or ambient sound it it.

Add it all up and you get quite a lot of 'Air' (LOL the sound of nothing).

When you edit all the silent bits out and the little clicks and pops, you get a progressively more sterile recording.

Russell went on to say that over zealous trimming and editing in pro tools takes the life out of things

- Keep your Harmony Notes Straight

Bah, this ones for me. I added some harmony stuff to the song but I forgot to keep my note straight.

Singing harmonies is different to singing lead solo vocals (seems so obvious yes?)

In lead vocals you can fiddle around with the notes and the inflection, but if you do the same thing in the harmony and then try to match the two up. Eeek.

I did remember that....mostly.

I kind of forgot in the middle bits and remembered at the ends of phrases. Going to have to work on that.

- Harmonies Are Weird

Stuff that works as a harmony can sound downright funny when sung on its own and only makes sense in context. Don't freak out when they solo the harmony channel and it sounds like WTF?

The song is now ready for Mastering and then release. It's currently timing in at around 6:35 so this is quite an epic. 

Cheers to Russell for his hard work.