Stormcellar Band Website
Stormcellar Band Website
Just got the news that our friend and KC musical legend Danny Cox passed away today at 82. Fark.
The sessions we played in his backyard are bright memories.
We'll miss ya Danilito. Love goes out to Mona and the fam.
My most recent listen yielded some concerns about levels and that's sort of mostly it.
Here's what I altered/fixed to get to 2nd final.
tw fix bass note at end of where am i
tw test 1 beat up faster for psych surfer - wound up going from 193-196
Turn the shaker down or look at the brightness characteristics of the new filter on solace
Turn the liquidator down half a decibel
Warming filter is too much on crossfire
Filter is too much on psychedelic surfer THERE WA SNO FILTER YA MUGGINS so i added 1
Revert to previous Mastering for King is back
where am i Unusual kick drum In the first bridge like it’s overloading
Harmonica chords in the second chorus are still not well positioned and do not pan
Intro between Coggins on the right to centre just ahead of the solo is still out of whack by half a bar
Second yearning still has a big volume jump on the YEH sound in the final chorus
Turn castaway down one
where am i harp chorus 2 fix again
turn up paul surany in heavens on my shoulder
coggers solo intro where am i
speed up crossfire by a small amount
trim entry points
increase bpm heavens
fix front of heavens has been clipped
turn solace down a smidge
figure out the nasty hi freqs in pauls guitar heavens on my shoulder, probably the new reverb
TW - where am i not toppy enough. check filters
Nutshell: up/down volume wise, on/off some filters, increased some songs speed by a small amount to keep the flow of the album, small continued bits of mixing.
This is what is meant by the 'top down' mix - usually, and historically for us, you complete a mix and hand it to a masterer.
As I learned from Anonymous Super Producer in LA, the way the Big Boys are doing it is...
- convert all drums to midi and replace with samples
- nest all projects whilst running through the final mastering filter.
Part 1 i wont do cos Theo. Although I have sampled in kick from time to time.
Part 2 is the top down mixing, so I think this process we have developed for it is pretty much right. I find it similar to visual editing. It's the same process of running your eye (ear) over the piece from start to finish until you forget it's your song/work and it just seems like something that has always been that way.
The fact that you can heal the issues lower down in the chain is awesome and new.
i know for old school people this is WTF and why and surely you have the discipline to do it old school and yeah we've done everything pre 2020 that way, but time moves on and tech changes, formats change and that's part of it.
What we are making now could only be made this way, and it is as it is because of it. Such has been the case with each release. From the wedding venue we converted to a studio in Bawley Point to the wooden hall at the Mangrove Mountain Community Centre, AJ's place in Indiana, Gary's place in Clarksdale, Eddy Avenue at 3am, the Dome at the Skydome Observatory near Parkes.
Tape, 1/2 inch, 2 inch, ipads, ZOOM recorded, laptops, pretty much everything that records sound, excepting an edison wax cylinder.
My Anonymous Super Producer also made comment to the effect that new and emerging software will do more and more of the mixing until he's out of a job. As robots are now also making music, i guess we'll be in the same breadline thereafter. Eventually the robots will just jam with each other while we oil them.
Meanwhile, the work continues. I had an insight that you have to like this sort of thing in order to do this sort of thing and I am coming to agree with that idea. Theo watched as i did some fixing of some...anonymous...guitarists timing and shook his head. For me though it feels like solving a puzzle, until it's what it ought to be. I think you gotta like it to do it and luckily for us, me, and our budget, I am into it and enjoying the buttons.
Next: same again. Reviewing it until i run out of interruptions to my ear. When it locks into place it's a real change. Like the difference between dough and bread. I think I got a little further yesterday and these changes are totally appropriate producer choices based on the 'album' as differentiated from the singles.
It's kind of like dropping a super bouncy ball. Each bounce gets a little smaller until it settles. I'd like to say 2-3 more passes but I can't know until it all clicks. What I can report is that I am running out of things to fix and a lot of this stuff is polishing. I am carefully walking the fine line between the effort to get work complete and the almost-impossible-to-use-rational-thought-to-describe 'sense' of when things are ready.
Will keep you guys posted.
Received notes from PR/TW/PS/EP/SK.
Burned to CD and listened in car, made notes.
Walked and made notes.
Following adjustments as 2am today lol:
Vocals in morning flame up and down a bit see if you can try to get them level they’re too high sometimes and too soft on a couple of locations work on that
Turn the mandolin down in the yearning bring the vocals forward with less reverb on them
tw - end of heaven on my shoulder - end the HMM noise earlier with the band
tw - floor tom where am i too loud
tw - drums too loud in where am i?, ride the faders on the drums with tw
Solace main up onw decibel
morning flame down half a decibel
liquidator up 1/2 DB
Turn the front vocals up in the yearning
pr - turn the verb down on fade out chorus by myself without you
solace down .25
paul guitar heavens on my shoulders start position is weird
end of coggers solace solo needs more oomph in the transition
by myself up .25
EP: chick chicka sound in heavens? hi hat? shaker? turn up
esss at end of solace last chorus
heavens on my shoulder chorus up
snare in chorus where am i, a smidge too loud in parts.
rhythm guitar left right in where am i, just ahead of the solo is out of whack fix
harp in chorus 2 of where am i blend at end chords too too
main vocals in 2 week up slightly v1
pull congas down slightly
more richness
snare the yearning a teeny smidge front
snare just slightly too toppy
snare too hot at end again
toms down a smidge
2nd mjeb yeee-earning fix
supporting dude up a little
EP wants higher longer fade
the fix is in down .25
main vox in the duke v1 down .25
coggins down slightly
look at the violin merge into the solo it's a little inelegant
bob down .25
PS - end arpeggio morning flame 2 beats from the end fade out earlier
Turn solace up a little
put the aircraft effect back into the beginning of solace
Put the sound effects behind solo in solos
Increase psychedelic surfer BPM by one
Heavens on my shoulder turn up the dual guitars
Unmute the guitars in where am I and re-export
Turn the vocals up at the front of the yearning
Turn the Duke down to decibel
turn bob down a db
EP: add audio vignettes as per basilisk/whiskey talking
After leaving it for the day, tonight I will review again.
Each pass is another pulse until it's all clean and clear.
Without putting a final day on it, it's definitely coming to a conclusion.
We're doing a short bracket at Blues Jam at the Crows Nest hotel today, sometime between 4-6 ish :)
The end comes as a surprise. After ....14 months? 15 months? 12 months? crikey when did we start this again? hang on i'll look it up.
Ok so Morning flame was released as a single in Feb 27 2024.
Therefore we're just over a year if you imagine it probably took a month to make MF.
Once again, our present production rate is around a song a month, with a little variability.
Since 2020, when I became the resource for editing and mixing, we've been making things in an ongoing song by song production process.
Previous to Signposts, our...i have to look it up....13th album, our process was to gather the songs, do it all in one fast hit in the studio cos we're 'frugal'.
I am certain that this alternate approach has changed the nature of the songs and how they work. I'm of the opinion that it is normal and to be expected as a band grows and changes.
I still feel like we have been in a wonderful pocket of quiet that has enabled us to produce work we're happy with, without the glare of expectation. Count your strange blessings.
After last nights walk around the circuit, I only made 4 notes on fixing.
Solace main up one decibel
morning flame down half a decibel
liquidator up 1/2 dB
Turn the front vocals up in the yearning
The new order works. True to concept, the first half of the album now crashes through the wall like the kool aid character, until we hit 'where am i' when it takes a blessedly slower approach until the end of the album. I reckon this is like an A side and B side - A is full on power B is much more chill. A little like the Safe Harbour/Rogue State approach.
As the releases are digital it's much of a muchness, but I am considering doing a small Audio Cassette run.
new order:
zeppelin/solace/morning flame/by myself without you/liquidator/crossfire/psychedelic surfer/the king is back/heavens on my shoulders/where am i/2 week millionaire/the yearning/the fix is in/the duke/waiting on a message from bob.
Final Review Phase
I have formally requested a review from the cellar feller's. That will bring me to the following:
1. final review notes
2. final fixes
3. 2nd final review
4.2nd final fixes (if any)
5. Group 'in car listens'
6. 3rd final fixes
7. leave it for a day or two
8. listen.
9.4th and last fixes
10. preparation for release, technical chopping and prep for CD's
11. release to digital services
12. produce small runs of physical product.
After that, there are two cracking songs I wanna get into the set, more in the greenhouse ready to receive more work, and a few other things to get on with.
Good times.
Listening in car. Theo listening. burning to cd is useful for next stage review.
Nutshell - levels starting to coalesce around -13 lufs for the first half of the album, -16 for the next part. Some discussion about order led to some shifts.
Specifics as follows. More process to come.
Songs reordered again, today.
tw - merge solace and zeppelin cross over point
tw ok on reorder - zep/solace/morn/liqui/cross
drums up on heavens on my shoulder
where am i sounds weak and lower
heavens kick up
floor toms down where am i
2nd time chorus snare fix where am i
Turn solace up one decibel solace
Turn up the lower vocals on the way oh heavens on my shoulder a WAYO.
Pan Robyn’s guitar harder right
Snare down in the yearning
Take the main vocal down one decibel
Take the mandolin down one decibel
Make the mandolin a little less top-heavy after the key change
Take theos drums down a little after the key change
Fix the Harp band in the solo intern Paul Surany up in the solo
Turn the Duke down one decibel
Adjust Coggins guitar solo in solace the end is a little buried
The last solace vocals turn up a fraction at the beginning
Turn morning flame down one decibel
Vocals in morning flame down a bit see if you can try to get them level they’re too high sometimes and too soft on a couple of locations work on that
Turn the mandolin down in the learning bring the vocals forward with less reverb on them
Gonna be like this until it's done.