Trial Mix for Seduction
Here is the first pass of a “mixed” version of Seduction.
Each of the MIDI instruments (piano, wurly, sax, horns) has now been recorded onto its own track (into the computer). Having a dedicated track for each instrument allows for “mixing” – that’s basically where the term comes from. I’m by no means an expert in the area of production, but one thing I’ve come to believe is that the less you muck with it, the better. I’ve applied some light compression to the sax and horns from my board (the external mixing board to which my outboard gear connects). Many people prefer to do all of it inside the computer (also known as “mixing in the box”) but I do a bit of both. I prefer to shape sound outside the box where I can employ real devices in the analog world – before it gets converted into digital when recorded. Sure, you can now do everything within the digital realm, but software is, by definition, emulating stuff from the analog world. Plus, my hybrid approach allows me to spread the workload between my outboard gear and the computer for better overall performance… I use the digital medium for more fundamental stuff like track levels (volume) and panning. Ok, that’s enough of the technical details for now…
I must also confess that I’m having some sinus challenges at the moment so my ears are totally stuffed, so I’m in no position to judge the mix. Hence, I’ll be calling in some better ears to help. Once the mix is finalized, the last step is to send it to a mastering engineer where the professional veneer and final touches are applied.
