Battle: Los Angeles

I went to see Battle: Los Angeles the other day with the guys from Piraxis. It was a decent movie, but there was one big glaring technical hole in it that was pretty impossible to ignore.

The plot centers around a retired Marine officer who ends up on one final mission, assisting a young officer and his squad in combat against a group of otherworldly enemies set on taking the water supply of Earth to power their machines. It's a good movie if you like lots of action, a little bit of Marine drama by-play...and roller coasters.

Why roller coasters, you may ask? Well, for some reason they decided that a movie with this much action wouldn't be complete without a wobbly camera. It literally shakes back and forth the entire duration of the movie.

Action scenes, I can understand. It adds to the feel of disorganized panicked action to have the camera seem a little unsteady. But there's a couple scenes, such as the one where the retired Marine confronts a Marine in his squad who questions his motives, where the camera moving was just ridiculous.

Makes you wonder what kind of meeting THAT was, right? "What could we do to really put this movie over the edge? I know, let's set the camera on a carnival mechanical bull!"

But hey, if you like watching Marines blowing up aliens, why not?

-Shard

How To Get Noticed At Your Shows

The other night Melissa and I were in Iowa City at a show. One of the reasons we went was so that I could check out a few bands I'd been interested in. After speaking with each band, I got to thinking about what bands do correctly to promote themselves, and what things might not be the best plan.

One major thing was how each band approached conversation with me. One approach was pretty clearly more effective than the other. One band approached the conversation from the point of view that they wanted to talk themselves up. Most of the conversation was spent discussing other places they'd played, big touring groups they'd played with, and other stuff like that. That approach may seem effective, but it's really not as effective as you'd might think! The band that really got my attention that night had a simple but effective way of getting my attention.
We discussed the Cedar Rapids scene a little bit, talked about a Facebook local music movement that I recently helped start. (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113351902076194), and then he gave me an extremely unique business card with clear and concise contact information. You can bet that after the show, they were the ones I remembered!

If you're trying to promote yourself at shows, you definitely need to be thinking about stuff like that!

The Mixing Process

I created this presentation to demonstrate what goes into a proper mix, and the kind of difference a good mix can make. The track, Into The Ground by Piraxis (http://www.facebook.com/piraxis) went through 8 different mixes before it was finalized. This is a very basic version of the mix history document that I use to keep track of my progress and keep the artist updated. Of course, it's not very detailed ( I can't give everything away! ), but hopefully this will give you an idea of what goes into a good mix.



Thanks to Melissa for setting up the videos!



To watch all 8 mixes progressively in one video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RWgwG6yyKA



START



Mix 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-13Nx9UZRw



Full track import

Rough balance mix, added basic tone-cleaning effects





Mix 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K7_3PITcRs



Began balancing guitar and bass

Began balancing drumkit with itself

Cleaned and added effects to vocal track

Applied subtle auto-tune to lead vocal tracks to clean up pitch





Mix 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S5QSiHnlOo



Brought guitar and bass up to full volume

Finalized lead vocal balance with instruments

Worked on bass drum/mix balance

Cleaned metronome out of start and finish



Mix 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjurdAjKpZY



Fixed balance of bass and guitar

Added a slight delay to lead vocals

Fixed bass drum equalization a bit





Mix 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdxL8e4sw0Q



Raised volume a bit on the snare/tom/cymbal track

Pulled 2nd vocal volume down a bit

Fixed click at the end of bass track





Mix 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IctUUNsZuI



Focused on fixing bass drum tone

Scooped low mids out of bass drum

Boosted highs around 2-4 khz





Mix 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTZqG_5FRR0



Drummer wanted more thud, less boom. Boosted his, dropped a little bass out





Mix 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4P9LYZvc50



Brought mix up to acceptable volume

Pulled 2nd vocal volume down one last time

Cleaned track

Confirmed mix with artist





FINAL