Welcome to issue #169 of Tape Op.

When I first began professionally recording other people's music, I was only working on analog multitrack tape decks. As many people note (or lament), the mixing process back then was more performance-based. All hands would be on the faders and mute buttons as we'd struggle to catch level and EQ changes, pan instruments across the stereo field, or turn effects on and off. I never had an automated console, and when I'd work somewhere else with one, I'd simply turn it off – learning a new system usually took longer than mixing by hand! Contrary to what you might expect, I have zero nostalgia for this way of mixing, and I never enjoyed "all hands" mixing. I began to learn how to carefully record to tape and prep all my tracks so that any "automation" I'd want was built into the tracking. With digital-based recordings, I've followed the same path: Prepping overdubs as I do them, and setting everything up for mixing as I track. When I get sent someone else's recording to mix, I still take a similar approach. After making a quick roughed-out mix, I'll organize and clean up files – trying to get them to sound like what I'd do if I'd tracked them – and then I'll keep balancing and working on the creative ideas. Similar results with different tools. But who's there while I'm mixing? See the End Rant this issue for my thoughts.

Larry Crane, Editor & Founder