I know some of you are bound to know more than you should about this. And so I'm asking to be enlightened. What's the difference between recording for an album and mixing it? I mean what exactly happenned in mississippi and what exactly will happen in new york? I know the basic difference, but thats about it... remember, i'm stupid when it comes to music industry stuff.

Well, I'm not one of the RIM kids, so they'd know more than me and may well contradict what I'm saying, but as far as I understand it (and I'm almost looking at it as an adaptation of film production) they got the raw sounds of playing recorded to tape in Mississippi. They will take those master tapes to New York and put them onto a crazy 32-track (or some ridiculously high number) mixing board and the raw sounds will be combined, probably in a protools atmosphere, with great precision and tinkering, to create the album as we'll hear it (well, there is mastering that happens after mixing, but I'm not qualified to explain that). Maybe I'm off my hinges, but that's what I think the process entails.

Will

(Edited by Wiyum at 2:18 am on Jun. 13, 2003)

Right, Will. Recording is just getting the sounds down on tape. Mixing is fine-tuning those sounds, making sure that every little part sounds right, fixing the EQ for every part, and maybe editing a little bit. Also part of the mix stage is setting all of the levels of all of the parts ("that guitar solo needs to be louder" or "those background vocals are too loud").

After all of the songs are mixed and they decide which of the songs they want to go on the album, they will send it off to a third party to be mastered. Mastering is just further fine-tuning the album as a whole - putting the songs in the order you want them, with the right spaces between songs (or transitions between songs), making sure the whole thing is at a consistent volume (not one song louder than another), and getting the fades right.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 8:50 am on Jun. 13, 2003)

Just a matter of curiosity, but why would they be sent to a third party for mastering? I don't really see the rational behind it unless it's like a peer critiquing sort of issue...

there are certain studios that only handle mastering. i don't quite know the reason why, but it probably involves the need for special mastering equipment (that most tracking studios don't have). i could be totally wrong though, i dunno. ???

Yeah, mastering is kind of a specific skill that requires very specific equipment that not just any studio has. Most places that do mastering only do mastering.

then, after you get the master tape you can hold it for ransom, not unlike shaun ryder from the happy mondays...

yeah, but he didn't want a helmut full of cottage cheese and naked pictures of bee arthur, now did he?

i think he took 50 pounds for them...

50 pounds of what? Man, that joke never gets old!

flesh

I would imagine that they want different people doing the mastering and the mixing to help keep it from being all left to the judgment of one fallible human being.

Ahhh, just saw 24 Hour Party People for the 4th time.... my sister hated it, I fear. I still can't get enough of it though. Everytime Tony Wilson argues someone down because they don't understand "postmodern irony" or "semiotics" I think of my media theory classes and laugh at how I actually have applied something from them, even if it is nothing more than understanding those jokes.

Will

haha...so true. perhaps my education is worth something afterall.

Does anyone know what songs they recorded?

There has been no official word of what songs were recorded.

There have been countless discussions on what people hope (i.e. Your Smile) or what people think will be on it.

My guess is that there will be a small amount of older songs, but mostly the newer and newest songs...if that helps you at all.

Welcome to the board, monkey! Post some more!

Actually, I counted. It's up to 387. Okay, well, this makes 388.

I doubt it's much of a secret, but they recorded most of the new songs that have been in heavy rotation in the last year or so. They re-recorded one song from the EP as well as one "classic".

I've already told you too much... I think I see them coming for me...

They re-recorded one song from which EP? Beginning?

One classic? Anyone care to guess which that is? Will this be the forth extant version of Armani Suede? Your Smile? Thursday? etc... Does Circus qualify as the token classic? Will Harold make the record or at least a B-Side? So many possibilities.

I predict that the following will be there...

Look Out Below
Buffalo Head
Bring on the Night
Growing Old
Someway, Somehow
Leave It All Behind
Blow It Out
Circus
Moonlight
See You Through
Exorcising Demons
Kari-Anne
The Way Its Meant to Be
Me and the Skirts
Exhibit A
Harold
God Save Rock 'n' Roll

They recorded 17 songs right? Those'd be my guess I suppose, being pessimistic and assuming that Circus IS the classic that got recorded (which is perhaps the song I most want on the album, don't get me wrong), but being optimistic and assuming that Harold, Growing Old, Moonlight, and Look Out Below made the cut.

And Carl, what is your source?

Will

Actually, Will, I think they recorded 15 songs.

I thought only 13 with a couple done twice? But that has to be wrong because it seems like too few. I think at least 10 of your guesses are right wiyum.

(Edited by Lauren at 9:38 am on Jul. 11, 2003)

Okay, that teaser was just evil!!!

Actually, they recorded zero songs. They were too busy with smack and hoes while in Mississippi to actually do any studio work.

I know for a fact that they recorded 15 songs... of course my Non-Disclosure Agreement prevents me from commenting any further, lest I suffer the wrath of Daiglenetics.

Watch it Frog!

I'm so sorry your Exhaulted One...

silence of the frog

Clearly there are some people on this board that take too much pleasure in watching others suffer with anticipation...

I am really interested in knowing what the "old classic" is that was recorded.

Alas. January is the tentative date, right? Or is it slightly before that?

Too damned long, in any case. You'd think that the other Krampf demos could be added to the player in the coming months to tide us over...

Ah wishful thinking.

Will

The old classic has to be Circus.

You peek at your presents, don't you?

though i consider "circus" to be both old and a classic, i don't think that that's the "old classic" some people have hinted at (though i do think it will be on the album). i guess i just think of "old classic" as something that would make all of us say "holy crap! how sweet that they put that song on the album!" and "circus" just seems kind of expected. i don't know...

(Edited by HaveSomeSoma at 12:58 pm on Jul. 12, 2003)

maybe screaming for extension chord finally got to them...

Agreed. I reiterate that Circus is the song I most want to be on the album, but it isn't what I think of when I think of "old classic."

Will

I'd be happy to see Speed of 33 1/3. I don't know why they never released the Mahaffey sessions versions. I'd love to see a 45" with 33 1/3 and See You Through on the B Side. Since 33 1/3 is about the love of vinyl it's kind of blatantly obvious that it would make a great single on vinyl.

Jeremy

i do

it's because it sucked.

I'd not go that far. Half of the recordings are, I think, rather wonderful. The others are pretty damned good too, if not flawed. But they don't sound like The Features.

Will

I think it was acutally because Don wasn't in the band anymore, but was on the recording.

The Mahaffey sessions were well after Don Sergio. The band just didn't like the recordings.

I wish 33 1/3 would've been the b-side on the Buffalo Head 45, so that it could actually be on vinyl. Oh well. Those songs have seen their day, and as best I can guess, no more than about 2 were recorded for the album.

I was told that Mahaffey actually played a few instruments during those sessions. I think it does sound like The Features but seems to be a bit glossier, a bit more polished.

I could see Matt M on some of the many misc keyboards used.