Day Twenty Nine: Thursday 30th June 2005
Today we get a visit from George Williams, the engineer in situ at The Doghouse Studios in Henley. George is the man we want to mix the album. We actually worked with him when we made the Children Of The Revolution album and we loved the sounds and mixes he produces. We had reached a bit of an impasse with Steve Brown over the direction of the mix of the new album. Steve wanted to mix on an SSL desk which we are not to keen on. We appreciated his mix of the last album and the continuity he gave to it’s sonic direction, but felt that the mix of the single version of ’45 R.P.M.’ was far superior than anything on the album itself (Check it out for yourselves, the original version was mixed overnight on an old seventies Trident desk at Foel Studios in Mid Wales). Steve was insistent on mixing in the SSL environment so we decided to take the album as far as we could ourselves with Martin Wilding recording at The Chapel and then going to The Dog House to finish off with George. George has come up to check on the proceedings and familiarize himself with our recording set up. It’s great to see George again, he is full of enthusiasm and tells us some Pete Doherty / Mick Jones (The Clash) stories as he has only just finished working on the new Babyshambles album. Today we also have to finish ‘Menai Bridge’ for Radio Two as they want to broadcast it next week. With George’s help we end up re-recording the guitars and simplifying the arrangement. George ends up staying the night and we finish late on. George encourages us to keep things simple and not do too much overdubbing / double tracking. In the final mix as he sees it, George wants to make us sound as much like a band as possible. Sounds fine by me.
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