Sobering up about mixing

I love mixing. It's the most fun part of the production process. But yesterday I witnessed something so cool... I was listening to a local radio show that plays local bands once a week. They played one of the bands I mixed, and then I remembered that I had an instrumental from that band that was never released. I sent the file to the show's host via whatsapp, and in no time it was on the air. And then I remembered that the song was recorded in one rehearsal, live from a little Mackie console to a stereo pair in the pc, 44100 hz 16bit lol It beat everything on that show. The style was a chacha (latin jazz sort of thing) and it didn't have a lot of snare hitting 2 & 4, so maybe the change compared to other tracks in the show was good, because it didn't trigger the radio's limiter so hard, I don't know. But the thing to take away for me is that if the band is good, live to 2 track analog mixing can be a godsend, because you don't f#$k around with the stuff so much and the sound is great, if you have good instruments and all that.

Absolutely. As long as the musicians play tight, the instruments sound good and the recording space and mic placements are on-point, you barely need any mixing whatsoever. Balancing volumes and panning can get you 95% there. Al Schmitt was famous for this kind of minimal/natural approach to mixing. He did most of his "mixing" before, and during, the recording stage. Careful placement of the instruments in the room, careful mic placement, choosing the perfect mics and preamps for the respective instruments, and then just lightly touching stuff up with maybe some EQ, and maybe some compression (only if really needed). He basically never used any other compressor than the Summit TLA-100, iirc. Never used a de-esser and such things. Tiny amounts of EQ and compression, and a bit of reverb. That's it. And he's still recorded and mixed some of the best sounding records throughout history!

It helps if you have bands that are rehearsed

This band was good.

Witnessing the magic of a live to 2 track analog mix on local radio was eye opening. The band's talent shone through, proving that sometimes, simplicity and great instruments create an unforgettable sound. Mixing is fun, but this experience was a sobering reminder of the power of raw performance.

It's NYE so I'll revisit my Pogues story: In 1981 I recorded a 4-song, 4-track demo with them in my small flat, slowing the tape and detuning the banjo so Jem could overdub on Greenland Whalefish, with a battery-operated kludge-up mixer for the bass DI, god knows what the mics were. Years later it was cleaned up and released on a compilation, sounds good to me. Three bin bags of bottles after the weekend.