Bob's Page

Updated March 3, 2009

Yes, the rumors are true. My lovely wife, Betty graciously let me turn an extra 2000 square feet of her new Apogee building into a wonderful tracking room we've called Berkeley Street Studio. We did a search for an old Neve 8068, like the one that was in Studio A at Power Station in NY, that I recorded and/or mixed lots of big records on by the likes of The Stones, Chic, Sister Sledge, Bryan Adams, Roxy Music and many more. Turns out that a wonderful guy named Steve Ripley from the band "The Tractors" bought that very desk in 1992 and has been using it in his studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma since then. He had it re-capped and modified by Fred Hill in '96 and somewhat grudgingly sold it to me last year because he was moving to a smaller place.

Fred came back a few months ago and upgraded the Neve with a bunch of mods that he and I came up with, like 'Fader Swap', 'Instant Cue Mix' (something I actually stole from Ed Evans) and all kinds of fun things we can now do with the monitor pot while in 'Mix' mode. The thing is just pure pleasure to record with now.

The room was designed by myself, Betty Bennett and architect Beatrice Girelli of Indidesign in Santa Monica, and built by Turpin Levin Construction of Sherman Oaks, CA. The technical bits (wiring, etc.) were designed and installed by Brandon Duncan and Kevin Harp. (I helped a little.) The control room's ceiling has recently been redesigned by Bret Thoeny of Boto Design and rebuilt to fix a pesky standing wave problem. The room now sounds simply stunning!

The tracking room has a high, "bow-truss" ceiling with skylights, large windows and a smal stage complete with a small Mackie PA with stage wedges for doing showcases or radio shows. We've installed Furman's brilliant HDS/R-16, a16-channel cue mix system that let's the musicians dial up their own individual headphone mixes. There's sliding glass "mall"-type doors that can section off part of the room for isolation, and a small vocal booth. There's also full 32 I/O ProTools HD and Logic/Symphony rigs with Apogee AD/DA16X converters (of course!) using two Apple 3 GHz, Dual Intel Duo Core computers, and my old Studer A800 24-track analog machine. It's our private studio so we're not booking it out, except to friends under very special circumstances. So this is not any kind of a plug—I'm just very proud of it and I enjoy bragging! We're really not interested in being in the "studio business".
Here's an (unfinished) web site Sean McAurthur threw together with a little photo tour: http://berkeleystreetstudio.com/
And here's some newer pictures: Berkeley Photo Gallery

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We've got a great new president! I'm obviously quite happy about Mr. Obama taking office but unfortunately he leaves me far less to bitch about here. I mean, yeah, the economy sucks & all but he's inherited that from the bozo he replaced, and I'm sure you're sick of hearing about it. We do still have to deal with those from the Republican party that only seem to complain without offering any better suggestions for what to do about our monumental financial problems. All they seem to worry about is having to pay more taxes without stepping back and looking at the big picture. As my lovely wife once said, "...we're all in it and [they're] not!" At least Obama is doing something, as opposed to psycos like Rush Limbaugh and Larry Kudlow (of CNBC) who simply go on radio & TV and whine obnoxiously.

I just don't get these rich, super-capitalist/Wall street/financial-wizard/hedge-fund types who think the administration is trying to push us into full-on socialism? So what else is the government supposed to do now that these goof-balls can't seem to keep their companies out of the toilet because they all got too greedy? Would they rather the government just let them all fail? At least Obama is trying to fix it. He doesn't want the feds to have to run all these failed financial institutions but really doesn't have much of a choice at this point. The rich republicans got us into this—you'd think they might want to help us get out. They've done quite well over the last several years of very little regulation, and now they're the only ones with any extra cash. But no, all they want to do is complain about their taxes going up, which is going to be the only possible cure here. How fucking greedy can these assholes possibly be? I'm not rich, but I'm in a high enough tax bracket that my taxes will be going up. I have absolutely no problem with that, if it's going to help get people's jobs back and get the economy back on track. I'll still be able to put food on the table. I don't want to generalize because not all rich people—or even all Republicans—are to blame, but those who are know who you are, and you people can afford it—so STOP FUCKING COMPLAINING AND HELP US GET OUT OF THE MESS YOU GOT US INTO, FOR CHRISSAKE!!!

But, of course I'm sure those assholes aren't reading this anyway so I don't know why I'm wasting my time typing this!

If anyone really wants to learn how we can make things better, please read "Hot, Flat & Crowded" by Thomas L. Friedman. I wish everyone on the planet would read this book!

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So does anyone know why, when a truck is backing up at two or three miles per hour, it's necessary to alert people a half-mile away with one of the most irritating noises ever devised by mankind? Especially on my street at 7 in the morning? I'd like to meet the guy that came up with that and just slap him around a bit!

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Here's some fan mail:

This one's from Guy Massey, (I believe) from Britain:

Hi Bob. Was just reading a piece by Bob Ludwig and he suggested you weren't too keen on mixing to half inch or indeed one inch 2 track because it did not represent fairly what the output of the desk was supposed to be doing pre analogue. I know what you mean, but what is it about the analogue process you dislike - the fact that you are not getting back exactly what you are putting in?

That's the main thing. When clients have asked me to rent in an analog machine to mix to (I don't own one) I notice that my mix appears to get slightly smaller and a bit distant when A/B'd to the output of the Apogees. Before I had heard of digital, I remember wishing analog tape was more accurate. There were times when I would tweak the bias on individual tracks (on a multitrack recording) depending on the type of instrument or voice being recorded, to try to get the tape to react more transparently. It helped a bit, but what a pain in the ass!
Plus there's all the practical aspects:
1) Digital always runs at (nearly) the correct speed, which makes syncing a breeze, even when there's no timecode.
2) In this age of limited budgets, mixing (or recording) to a hard drive is much more affordable. Or I should say, IS affordable.
3) The amount of analog tape that would be the equivalent of two 250 MB hard drives would probably fill my entire machine room!
4) I can post digital files on my server for a mastering engineer across the planet to download the same day, whereas Fedex is a minimum 2 days to London or Paris.
5) I mix stereo & surround at the same time, so I need 8 tracks. I can edit 5 versions of a mix (stereo & surround) all at the same time in a DAW.
Shall I go on?
Why put up with all the drawbacks of analog, when modern digital (with proper converters) actually sounds better?

Elevated LF and all, more distortion etc?
I'm keen to know how you feel about the mastering process because I'm not sure english mastering houses put in the same amount of effort as you chaps, or it seems to be approached in a completely different way.

There are some top-notch mastering engineers in London.

Thanks for your interest!
Clearmountain

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Bob,

Question:  Why is the trend in rock recordings getting more severe with squashing the hell out of final mixes? It's the worst with the Alternative genre. It seems absurd, that the industry spends millions of dollars on high-end digital recording and processing, only to have the capabilities lost with severe compression.  We're left hardly any definition of the individual instruments, and our VU meters hardly move.    So, what's the deal to you? Do you find it frustrating?  Who is making the decisions on this trend?

I'm a 50 year-old guy. It surprises me that even my 14 year-old son asks me why. 

My response:

Dear Mr. Kelly,

This is a question that seems to be asked more and more these days. I'm not absolutely sure, but I believe there's a few reasons. First, radio stations tend to use massive compression (usually multiband) to keep their signal strong enough to reach the "fringe areas", the places just on the edge of reception. So, when the mixer "squashes the hell" out of the mix, the producer and the label guys think it "sounds just like the radio", which somehow translates to "sounds like a hit." Second, (which is really a subset of the first reason) because the record buyers have gotten used to hearing all that radio compression, they actually expect to hear it when they buy, er... I mean.. when they download the tunes.

Third, a certain amount of compression does add excitement to a rock mix (I use a fair amount myself) but as you've observed, it's quite possible that a number of modern mixers may have overdone it a bit.

Also, when you highly compress every track, mixing gets quite a bit easier, as everything just sits at the same level, so you don't really have to push the faders much. But of course, you still must get some kind of a musical balance.

Cheers,
Clearmountain

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Here's another fantastic email I just received. I love hearing from the other side!

Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:29:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Thomas Gorc <valveamp101@yahoo.com>
Subject: Hey
To: bob@mixthis.com
I like a a number of your mixes. Your site is ok for someone with the history you have. Too bad your an absolute idiot when it comes to Bush. I find it interesting how you and your types claim to be for the little people. Enjoy your plush home and pool as you read your conspiracy web pages.

Sincerely,
Tom

P.S. Do feel free to send me any piece of spare mic pre you may have. I am always in need of more.

Thanks! Yeah, no problem. it's in the mail.
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Here's another real good one from Mr. Dan Overholt:

Bob,

Hello, nice web site. Thanks for sharing. I have recently started to recording music and have read all about your mixing skills/talents. Needless to say your accomplishments speak for themselves. You have worked very hard I'm sure to achieve what you have. I was reading about Collective Soul and came across you name. Then I thought, "Hey, I bet someone with so much knowledge to share, must have a blog/website/Facebook/twitter/etc.". Yep, mixthis.com, there it is!

Then it happened. A seemingly innocent post, "We've Got a Great New President". What! Then you go on to trash "rich, super-capitalist/Wall street/financial-wizard/hedge-fund types". Really, are they like the "rich, super-capitalist/financial-wizard/record company types"? Wow, and then you continue with an intellectually stimulating series of f-bombs and a-holes. Deep, real deep.

But, I'm not famous, I'm not rich, I'm not poor, or a super-talented audio engineer. Nope, I'm the forgotten man. No platform to offer my opinion (misguided or not). I'm just working hard as my "Great New President" tears down our free-market, destroys the best health care system in the world, taxes the laborer to give to the lazy, and censors anyone who disagrees with him. Now that is real change, change I can NOT believe in.

Bob, take it from the forgotten man. Don't be an idiot, stick with mixing...

-- The Forgotten Man

Well Dan, here's your platform. Please tell us more about our "...best health care system in the world" that allows people to be dropped from their insurance policies for things like seeing a shrink in their teens (happened to a friend of mine) and simply leaves a huge percentage of it's population with no health care at all. You may get some dissagreement from people living in Canada and France.

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Here's another interesting email I recently received:

Hey Bob,
Great site and I love your work. Your site is fun and entertaining
but I wish you wouldn't have poluted it with politics. I guess I just
miss the innocence of music and how it lets us escape from everyday
life. It's too bad that it has to taint what is otherwise a great
site.
Sincerely,
Matt

And my response:

Matt,
That's a fascinating perspective. I suppose I'm just showing my age there, as I grew up during the Sixties when most of my favorite music was all about politics, from Dylan to the Beatles ("Revolution", etc.) to Buffalo Springfield ("For What It's Worth") to Country Joe and the Fish ("I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die") and Jimi Hendrix ("Up From the Skies") as well as many, many others. I'm wishing recording artists nowadays other than U2, Bruce Springsteen and The Beastie Boys would voice their political opinions in their music more often, rather than simply cashing in on every mindless kid-with-an-iPod's poor taste in music.
My personal belief is that no matter what our lot in life is, when we recognize injustice, corruption or just plain stupidity in our leaders, the worst thing we can do is remain silent.

And another one from Mr. Mike Noble:

hi bob you won't remember me but i met you at Sweetwater enjoyed
your lecture was just recently on your website i know your famous
and all that now but don't go mixing politics with you music (listen
to johnny cash's "the one on right is on the left") people will
enjoy your website and abilities much more than your politics mike

Thank you Mr. Noble for your email. Although I don't agree, I thoroughly appreciate you're perspective and opinion. It's a shame you can't appreciate mine.

(Oh, and I see you're not much into punctuation!)

Cheers,
Clearmountain

Keep 'em coming, folks!

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Hey, I worked with an assistant who paid a lot of money to an "audio engineering" school who said that the subject of "word clock" was merely mentioned during the course - they never actually went into any detail about it or explained how to avoid clock errors, etc. I told him he should demand his money back!

I got a bunch of requests with a similar theme, like these:

"Hey, um I know y'all probably don't like to divulge your secrets, but it would be cool if you had like a "mixing tips" page." - Cody Jones

"...it would be nice if you had a few 'Bob's Hot Tips' that might be handy for people trying to get similar sounds but maybe are on a smaller budget." - Vinny Burns

"...maybe you... could set up an advice page. I don't mean one that gives your secrets away just something of how to mix market quality CD's." - Nathan Vincent

Well, here goes -

Here's a new one: NO PODS IN THE RECORDING STUDIO!!!! Normally, I don't like to comment on how to record stuff, the general rule being "there are no rules". In this case, I'm making an exception as I've recently had to try to deal with guitar tracks recorded through The Pod (from Line 6). These are the most unmixable sounds I've ever encountered. I'd say they're probably fine for demos, but quite often demo tracks appear on final master recordings, then end up on my mixing table! Don't get me wrong, Line 6 makes some great products - I use Amp Farm all the time. I think the Pod is really for blasting your Strat, Les Paul or whatever through headphones so your mom/girlfriend/wife/bus driver doesn't get annoyed. PLEASE beg, borrow or steal a goddamn guitar amp!!

...and whatever you do, DON'T fall asleep next to one!

Here's the old ones - still valid:

1. Use your imagination. Listen carefully to cool sounding stuff on your favorite records, try to imagine what the mixer did to get it, then come up with your own version. It may end up better than what you were trying to duplicate, and it will be original.2. When mixing, don't start with the drums - start with the vocal. Find an environment (verb, delays, etc.) and a sound (eq, dynamics, etc.) for the vocal that suits the lyric and the general mood of the song, then build your mix around that.

3. Listen to your mix on as many different sets of speakers as you can get your hands on, and keep changing monitor levels randomly. Ironically, the only type of speakers that really mean nothing for pop & rock record mixing are large, soffet-mounted studio monitors. Believe it or not, I find the easiest speakers to judge vocal, bass and bass drum levels & eq are my little self-powered Apple computer speakers, that, of course they stopped making.

4. When you start to feel like you can't make a decision about something - can't see the forest for the trees, take a 20 minute break. Go for a walk, get something to eat, you might even try to take a short nap. When you return to your mix things will be clearer. If possible, instead of finishing a mix at two in the morning, leave it up over night. First thing in the morning you'll immediately know what's wrong.

5. Don't do anything I say because I'm generally full of crap.

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I get a lot of questions like "I've been mixing for about six months and I'm mixing on xxx software that I bought for $500 that runs on a PC and I'm using the zzz interface that cost me $200 and I can't seem to get my mixes to sound like yours, even though I use tons of plug-ins. Can you give me some tips?"

Hmmm, let's see... you might start by getting a job as a delivery boy in a professional studio; after a while move up to assistant; assist, watch and learn from other great mixers for several years until you convince some producers and/or artists to let you record and mix their records; spend years (like maybe 10 or 20) recording and mixing thousands of records of as many different styles of music as possible, spending many, many, many long hours in studios trying everything you can possibly think of to make your recordings and mixes sound better (or at least interesting); then saving alot of money from doing all that work and spending about a million dollars on your own studio (actually, nowadays you don't have to spend nearly as much as I did!); and hope that you are lucky enough that God gave you some kind of mysterious talent that you don't even understand (or think you deserve).

I hope that helps.

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I know these tips seem like a cop-out, but I haven't had much time to think about it. I'll try to think of more stuff, so stay tuned. If you've got anything specific you'd like me to write about, please let me know. By the way, I'm quite flattered that anyone actually cares - thanks!

Here's one from someone named "Graeme":

"Dear Sir, If you have a moment, the [BSS] DPR-901, what do they do that other machines don't?"

And the reply:
The DPR-901 is a "dynamic equalizer" — a 4-band EQ that does nothing until audio at the selected frequencies exceed an adjustable threshold, it then proportionately dips or boosts just those frequencies. So, for example, if you find the harsh frequency that might pop out occasionally on a vocal, it will dip it just at those moments, but leave the rest alone. See, it's like cheating!

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Here's an interesting comment I received via email from a gentlemen named Adam Lankford:

"the reason your website sucks is because you dont like windows."

I couldn't think of an appropriate response to that, so if anyone out there wishes to reply for me, his address is adam.lankford@piedmontng.com. Please CC me at: bob@mixthis.com. Thanks!

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I received this query from an engineer named Colin Miller:
"I was wondering what you consider 'bad pro tools editing' from the 'stuff that bugs us' list. I do a lot of pro tools editing and wonder what engineers other than myself expect to get or consider good/bad."

Bad ProTools editing can be a lot of things, but the big one is not checking every edit on every track for smoothness and musicality. I've received sessions where the bass had been grouped with the drums (live musicians) while the drums had been extensively edited for timing, etc. Obviously no attention had been paid to the bass edits, so there were all kinds of clicks where bass notes were clipped because the bass player wasn't playing exactly in time with the drums. (Go figure!) There was another one where there were little gaps in the drum track where regions had been separated and moved for timing. (I didn't get the PT session, just a PCM 3348 copy of it.) I called the goofball editor about it and he somehow seemed to think that the gaps couldn't be avoided! Someone actually paid him for that - jeeeeze!!!

Here's a few tips that would make the mixer's job easier:
1. Remove any automation rides or panning, but leave all necessary hard mutes. Make sure nothing's muted that shouldn't be.
2. Record any necessary plug-in processing, but you might keep the unprocessed file available, with a note as to what it's called with the processed track.
3. If possible, don't consolidate your edits. In case you did miss something, or the producer changes his/her mind, it can then be fixed easily.
4. Add notes for each track stating what it is. Better yet, write out a proper track sheet.

Thank you, Mr. Miller.

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I've also added a page called "Mixing Etiquette" with some tips that may help producers and artists to get the most out of their mixers.

A few people have asked about the availability of the drum, percussion and bass sample CDs that I released years ago. Well, click on this: Clearmountain Samples.

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Here's some goofy pictures of me from the early 70's sent in by my old roommate, Martin Balk:

If I only had handwriting that good!	Me, Harvey Goldberg and Michael Barbiero.

And here's one of me after a long mix session with Mutt Lange. (Not really!)

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Here's a cute little limerick sent in by a rather clever engineer from Dublin named Keith Mc Donnel:

THERE ONCE WAS A MIXER NAMED BOB
WHO WAS INCREDIBLY GOOD AT HIS JOB
HIS REPUTATION ABOUND
FOR CREATING A SOUND
JUST BY TWIDDLING HIS MAGICAL KNOB!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, Keith. And someday I'll be taking you up on that pint of Guiness (or two).

___________________________________

If there's anything that you feel should be included in these pages, you can E-mail it to bob@mixthis.com. If I agree, you may see it included in the future. Keep in mind that this is not a commercial site and by E-mailing us your comments you agree to relinquish any rights to what ever you send, (any attachments included) to Fast Forward Productions, Ltd., for use by us on this here web site.

If you're interested in having me involved in the mixing or production of your project, please contact my manager, Alia Fahlborg, (alia@nettwerk.com). You can also view my discography.

If you want to be an assistant here at Mix This!, forget it. I already have an assistant I'm quite happy with. Please don't email with that request - I won't answer you.

Please enjoy the site (or not... see if I care).

Bob Clearmountain

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