Notes for the Mixdown of the Roseville Big Band CD

These are notes Glen Newton compiled while listening repeatedly to the rough mix of the recording session. They became a checklist of things to fix in the final mix. Because the CD was recorded on multiple tracks, the mixdown process permitted a certain amount of correction to balance problems by boosting one track or cutting another during the mix. Many of the comments deal with these balance issues.

Waltzing Matilda (Reel 1, pg 1)

1. During first sax chorus, the 8th notes on beat 4 are too loud in the trombones (but okay in the trpts)
2. After trpt unison at the end, leading to the loud part, make everybody pp on "you'll come a-waltz", then crescendo on "tsing Ma-" and full volume on "tilda"
3. Boost lead trpt (or all trpts, if necessary) in last few bars
4. Drum solo should stop before beginning of alto sax solo

In some cases, an entire note needed to be removed, as suggested by comment #4 on "Somebody Loves Me." There, it turned out that four of the five saxes had played the wrong note on the unison line, so during the mix, Glen quickly moved their faders (volume controls) down to zero at that note, then back up again for the next note, effectively removing the wrong notes and leaving for the final product the note played by the one sax player who remembered the accidental.

Somebody Loves Me (Reel 1, pg 2)

1. 1st and 2nd alto are reversed (not a problem as far as I'm concerned)
2. Get rid of the sax squeak, wherever it is
3. Behind tenor solo, make cup-muted trpts louder, to match trb volume
4. Fix the sax at the beginning of the coda - half step off on 3rd note
5. Early trpt entrance in next to last bar

My Romance (Reel 1, pg. 3)

1. 1st and 2nd altos are reversed (not a problem as far as I'm concerned)
2. First bar or so - vibes a bit too loud
3. Slow part at beginning - brushes on snare too loud
4. Cabasa softer (like we ended up with it during Harvey's solo on the rough mix)
5. Drum set just a bit softer on fast section
6. Use Harvey's track 23 solo
7. Near end of his solo, bring it up a bit when lead trpt goes up to high C's
8. Don't forget Harvey's fill at the end

My Little Girl (Reel 2, pg. 5)

1. 1st three bass trb notes not solid; can we back them off a bit?
2. "Sometimes she speaks, sometimes she squawks" - can we pan trbs to bring out BT, less tenors
3. She gets good grades, she breaks some rules, MLG she is THE world: sax hits a bad note there
4. Boost extra track in the trpt pyramid; vol. Something between the two we used on the rough mix
5. At the D.S., keep the vibe fill, but make it softer; can we add some reverb on it?
6. On D.S., mix background vocals louder (perhaps??), piano softer(??), tenor trbs softer (can we use more of the bass trb channel?)
7. 1st bar of Coda sounds like one sax is on wrong bar - maybe 2 C’s in a row, after the bah-bah-dah-babh
8. Need to hear piano at the very end
9. Bari sax too loud on last 3 notes

Blue Skies (Reel 2, pg. 6)

1. Omit trumpet section on measures 5-8 of the bridge both times
2. Coda  - saxes too loud, trpts need to be louder
3. Keith’s fill at the end needs to come out more

Georgia On My Mind (Reel 2, pg. 7)

1. First lead trpt note - can we fix the ragged attack?
2. Make sure saxes (and even trpts) don't dominate the vocals
3. Fade out GP’s solo on last note, because his note conflicts with theirs

Moon River (Reel 3, pg. 8)

1. Hi-hat and brushes on snare much too loud
2. Vibes a bit too loud
3. Kay (alto 1, trk 15)  too loud on several spots; flugel melody needs to be louder
4. After mixing to 2 tracks and digitizing, time stretch it? Now it's 2:28; expand it to 3:00

Rosie the Riveter (Reel 3, pg. 9)

1. Intro - Add cocktail bar sound from sound effects library
2. Intro - Do we need to boost "Who Is That Dame?"
3. Are the cymbals too loud?
4. Any way to make the ratchet parts fuller? Overdub? Add flanger, copying to Ch. 19 or 20?
5. Boost the people who have inflection in the voices for “That girl really has sense”
6. Same spot- make bass start on 2nd beat of the measure
7. Mute the early bari sax entrance after one of the trombone breaks.
8. After the sax chorus, the sound is weak; some may have forgotten to come in. In any case, boost the trpts for at least a couple of bars.
9. Ending - add riveter sound from sound effects library

Sometimes the fix required an overdub. For example, comment #6 on "Sleepy Time Gal" was the result of one of the trombonists playing a loud E-flat, when the note in the unison should have been E natural. Because the trombones were not on separate tracks, but rather recorded by a stereo pair of microphones, it wasn't possible to simply cut out the one offending note. Cutting it out removed all of the trombones from that note, so Rich Eyman and Glen went into the studio to record just that note, to replace the bad one on the original recording. (Of course, they didn't just play a single note; they played several notes on either side as well, so that it would be easier to merge it in with the rest of the line.)

Sleepy Time Gal (Reel 3, pg. 10)

1. Cymbals too loud(?)
2. Two beats before the first letter, one of the saxes hits a wrong note; maybe lower or mute the part
3. Boost bari sax offbeats first time and slightly the second time
4. Boost bari sax triplets with a crescendo at the phrase ending
5. Measure before transition to key of C, bring out the bari sax;
6. At C, 1st trb note - can be fixed?
7. On my trpt solo, when I get soft, bring the rhythm section down, then back up again when I get louder
8. Trb whole note backgrounds on separate track good; trpt cup mute background needs to match it
9. Last lead trpt note (separate channel) should come through

Cha Cha Cha for Judy (Reel 3, pg. 11)

1. Slightly less piano, less shaker, more claves
2. 1st full bar, one sax enters too early on 6th note of the piece; we should mute it.
3. Bring flugels up when they have the melody
4. Don't forget the cowbell solo
5. On 2nd bridge, where trbs have lead, bring them up and my scraper (Ch. 20) down.

Woodchopper's Ball (Reel 4, pg. 12)

1. Pan trpts/trbs Left, Center, and Right for three hits behind saxes, simulating horn moves
2. Next 12 bars, pan trpts/trbs Left, Right, and Center for 3 rhythmic fills
3. Overdub soprano trb on Ch. 20(?) for dueling trbs
4. Mike B. plays extra notes at the  very end of dueling trbs, and we should cut out those left channel notes
5. Cut out 10th bar beat 4 and 11th bar beat 1 of last chorus in piano part

Rock Around the Clock (Reel 4, pg. 13)

1. 1st and 2nd altos are reversed (not a problem as far as I'm concerned)
2. Use my pno overdub (Ch. 21/22) on gliss into 1st chorus
3. Use my pno overdub (Ch. 21/22) on 2nd chorus instead of Ch. 7/8, until 11th and 12th bars
4. Replace trpt unison with Mark's and my track (Ch. 19/20)
5. On Bob's trpt solo, can we make trbs/bari sax interplay more obvious?
6. On my trb ride (Ch. 23), back off bars 3 and 4, which sound splatty, but loud again on bar 5.
7. Omit trpt ride on last chorus
8. Use my pno overdub on last chorus instead of Ch. 7/8 up to downbeat of bar 11, then 7/8 again.

Mark Lee was unable to be at the recording session because of a death in the family, so he came into the studio later to record his solo on "Waltzing Matilda" and a few other important lead lines. During the original session, Glen covered Mark's part on "Star Dust," but Mark's tone on the lead lines is such an integral part of the band's sound that Glen added it in during the mixdown, as indicated in several of the comments below.

Star Dust (retake; Reel 4, pg. 14)

1. Add Mark's flugel (Ch. 20) on bars 2&3
2. Brushes on drums much too loud
3. Use Mark's lead lines 7 bars before vocal, in addition to trpts; not too soon, due to intonation
4. Trpts w. harmon mutes should be a bit louder behind vocal
5. Use Mark's lead line (Ch. 20) on "Dreams that we had are gone now"
6. Overdub trb. 2 on "My Stardust Memory" (new track - e.g., Ch. 18)
7. Fix Mark's & my ragged attack on last bar - faders up after attack; use us rather than trpts there.
8. Need trb fill louder at very end

Click here to see the timeline for creating the CD.

This page was last updated
Friday, February 07, 2020.


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