First time working with Void Era, an alt-rock band from Athens, Greece.
Come to think of it, I have worked with Ilia (Vocals, Guitars) before, for the Burning Stone single I mixed back in 2013.
7-8 years later, this is a 5-track debut EP and a whole different story.
I had the chance to listen to the demo songs of the trio before they hit the studio. Nowadays, it’s very common practice for bands to record some elements of the production at home. Things like guitars, bass, even vocals might be recorded in a DIY fashion, and this was the case with Void Era. While this method has its advantages, it’s also very important to have these tracks recorded properly. So, we had to get some things fixed or re-recorded, mainly from a technical point of view (crossfades, proper tuning, properly recorded DIs etc).
We recorded the drums at SoundWay studios, the place I record most of my drums nowadays. Can’t really remember what snare we used, but I do remember applying different snare tunings for different songs, which turned out great. Once again, room mics were my friends and played an important role in the mix too.
Guitar-wise, there is one extra octave rhythm guitar in there, duplicating ALL the standard rhythm tracks So far so good…but the best part is that this track is not a lower octave but a higher one, roughly imitating the sound of a mandolin. My initial thought before starting to mix was that I was not going to use any of that, but in some cases I actually found myself loving them, thus raising the faders a lot. I reamped the DI signals through real valve amps at my home studio.
Mixing -wise, it was all a matter of combining aesthetics with the technical aspect of the mix. The more I mix, the more I understand that a crucial process for a successful production is imagining how as element should sound and then translating it into EQ curves, and plug ins but without losing its initial essence.
This was also one of the first tracks I started to realize the algorithms and mechanisms of most streaming services (YouTube, Spotify), adjusting the dynamic content of the final master accordingly. Good times!
Co-Recorded, Mixed and Mastered in 2019.
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