Shops & Comedy Genies... There's no 'us' in Geniuses.

By DM

I agree. The whole recording music thing is weird. It is.

But I think the mixing thing is just as, if not more weird. You end up somewhere in between being inside and outside the music (see Tommy B's post below for a more detailed explanation...) and it's easy to get pulled back in (and sometimes out) at any point unless you have a clear idea of what the end product is going to be. I reckon the trick is to try and stay there -  in between the 'in' and the 'out' that is... (Why am I suddenly getting the urge to shake it all about?). Anyway, this might be fairly obvious stuff to any musicians who are used to the whole process, but it's still a bit weird. At least it is to me. 

And the mixing of this particular album was done just by myself and Gordon Macalean (who also engineered the recording) for one simple reason - time. 

To put this into a geographical context, An Tobar (where the mixing had to be done) is on the Isle of Mull. I live in the Borders. That's a 6 to 7-hour journey one way including a boat ride. We initially tried doing the mixing 'by post', a frustratingly slow and somewhat clumsy process, and we just weren't set up to do it by email or anything as hi-tech as that. But realising there was really only one way to do it I had to grab the opportunity of the occasional 'free days' I had here and there, and traveled up to Mull 3 times in order to get the thing finished. It still took over a year to complete. Tommy B said I didn't want him anywhere near the mixes. Just not true. I would have loved us all to have been able to sit down and produce the whole thing together, particularly as the collective writing and recording part of the project was such a beautiful time, but we all have very full diaries and it was impossible to make it work that way, if it was going to be finished anytime in this millennium. (The very fact that we're starting to discuss this on a blog is perhaps some indication of how infrequently we manage to meet up!) ;o)

In any studio session you kind of have to accept what happens - if you feel you've played well (as a band or individually), then that's great. If you don't, then that's too bad but either way, you still end up with X amount of takes of the music, from which you have to produce an album. I think we all felt that at the time of recording Shops that we were playing well, and there was a very positive vibe in the studio. It wasn't until we heard the rough mixes of the session a few weeks later that we all kind of went..."Oh dear." (As Tom has already pointed out, the recording of 'Late Show' was almost exactly the opposite experience). 

But here's the thing; Those first 'mixes' were rough. They weren't even 'mixed'. It was like being served a really good meal with the 3 courses in the wrong order, and the vegetables on the same plate as the dessert, and the steak garnished with an after-dinner mint, and... well you get the drift - fact is, you would just send it back. As long as the ingredients are combined the way you like them and they're cooked well, there's no problem. (Hmm, getting a bit hungry now...) Anyway, where am I going with this? Oh yeah, the point is; I don't think it can ever really be that bad for us... Some people will like it and some people won't. That's the nature of all music, but we've been playing together for over 10 years and I feel hugely proud of the music we make together as a group. And whatever kind of day we're having, at the very least it's going to be pretty good. Sometimes you have a pre-conceived idea of what you should sound like, usually based on some kind of comparison to an 'in' group or some 'hip' piano trio that everyone's taking about - but I just don't care about that stuff anymore. I really don't. Sure, we all have days of feeling insecure, but there's enough to think about without comparing yourselves to others... Leave that to the critics. At least they get paid for it. We made a CD. It sounds like us. I like it.

I have to say before I go, that although my name takes up 2/3rds of the title of the group, I can't really imagine the trio with anybody other than the Toms. When we first started performing together, my playing really changed quite a lot, and I was really inspired by their own playing and fearless creativity. 

I feel honoured to share the same stage with them. 

But I would like my own dressing room now and again.

PS. Something amazing just happened.  I was making some breakfast, and an image of Tom Bancroft manifested itself on my toast. What do you think it means?