In the studio again today, but this time working on mixing down songs instead of recording in order to get tracks finished.  The process of making an album involves many different parts and today the focus was on mixing down the first four tracks of Make Music.  The goal in mixing down the tracks is to balance and shape the sound of each of the instruments for that track.  This can be a painstaking process because the smallest changes can make a big impact.  It also becomes challenging when you’ve heard the same song 50 times with countless different versions.  They all start to sound the same!

Mixing the track Pickmeup and getting it ready for mastering.

One of the other challenging aspects to mixing is that when the tracks finished and you listen to a mix down of your work, it can sound different depending on what type of sound system you play it on.  I try to listen to my mixes on at least four different systems (studio reference speakers, headphones, my car, normal stereo system, laptop speakers, etc.).  By listening to the track on different systems, you can hear how the song performs and see if you need to make any adjustments.  Ideally, you don’t have to do much, but it is a perpetual learning process when you are creating sounds.

Thankfully, the mixing process for Make Music has been spread out over a large period of time.  The finished tracks that were worked on over the last week are: Tour, Bright Eyed, Anyway…, and Pickmeup.  These songs were at a stage where they just needed a little more work to finish up.  The final mixes are sounding really great and will only get better after they come back from being mastered.  It is nice to have these tracks finished finally.

Now that tracks 2 through 5 are complete, the focus is back on recording and getting the next four songs ready.  Those are: Mission Accomplished!?, For All The Days My Muse Called In Sick, Song3, and Despair.  Back to the studio to keep working!