Singer Michael Mulder and Producer Nick South had me mix a few more trackx. Love both these guys, not just for their shear talent but because of there attitude toward art and music.

When I started mixing the first track for them I attempted to tuck in the tuning of the vocal a bit with Waves Tune. I have to admit before I really listened… to be honest. Not because it necessarily needed it but because it has become a “how we do records now” mentality. I would say virtually ALL trackx we hear these days are enhanced with some degree of tuning. Same thing with Nick’s bass sound. As I strapped a compressor on it, as I always do with bass because I have at least a dozen different compressors in my arsenal and it helps tighten up the bottom end and evens out lo notes of course. Nick preferred a ‘Pure ” approach to his sound. Mainly because he played it great when he recorded, even notes, good pitch, great articulation.

Earlier in my career we didn’t have nearly as much technology frankly… No Pro-Tools with non-destructive recording… so when you punched in you really punched in, and if it was the wrong place … gone forever and ever. No Auto-Tune, so singers HAD to sing a track with GREAT intonation or we would do it over and over and over again till it was right. (I must admit I do get more sleep these days having tools like Auto Tune!) But almost anybody would admit that with today’s technology, there is a change in the artistry involved. The desire to make it great ” when you are recording” as opposed to ” In the mix”… I would like to believe is where it should be and something that we should all veer towards. But often we fix it later, cause we know we can, and it gets us to sleep at a decent hour. I will stop short of saying the ‘Art” is gone.. But I will say the focus of the Art has changed.

Give a listen to this track and how Michael sang it! He absolutely nailed it in the performance and there is No Auto-Tune in sight in the mix… A pure talented artist.