Say You Will Mix

[David]

When I bought "Say You Will" back whenever, I was disappointed in the sound mixing. So I gave it a rest (of about four months). I played it again today, all the way through, & I'm still disappointed in the mix. I told some FM fan friends this evening that I've played that album on about six different players: boom box, two computer CD-ROM drives, a car audio player, etc. No matter where I've played it, it sounds like "The Other Side of the Mirror." I think the mixing job on the album is atrocious. Every track is tinny; there's no low-end foundation that sounds natural & the whole effect is clashy. You can hear the bass pumping away, but it's very artificial & mechanical sounding. The whole album sounds like a club rave on a house sound system where the speakers have partially blown.

I think "Time" is mixed better than this.

All this time, I thought it was a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, & I blamed Mark Needham & the hired engineers. But now I'm told that Lindsey himself is really responsible for the general sound of the album. Apparently, he really enforced his vision on Needham & the others. Both Needham & Chris Lord-Alge are drummers, & they naturally like a mix that centers on the drums. But LB was very specific with what he wanted from the mixes. He kept pushing Mark to make the drums as small as possible & keep the overall sound tame & unaggressive. Ultimately, they fired Chris after a few tracks, but obviously Mark stuck it out. They paid him a lot of money to do what Lindsey wanted, so he did it.

I long for the days when Lindsey achieved the perfect combination of earthy & ethereal in a mix, as he did on "Law & Order," which is a sonic wonder.