New Mixerman book - Zen and the Art of Mixing

[WC1]

Thanks for the reply Phil.

[Mixerman]

Word. As to the other bit, no, I never suspected you were MM - frankly, there's something a little bit underhanded about it, as hilarious as it is to read, a little unprofessional and you've never struck me as the kind of guy that would write something like that, even as a fabrication. You're up front, and that was, well, not. My opinion, of course, and it's still funny.

 

 

I stand by the words I put up on the myspace blog exactly as written, so everything I talk about here is purely hypothetical. Let's call it an exercise in logic.

 

So, clearly you feel, based on my blog entry, that the book is a complete fabrication. Let's run with that for a moment.

 

You also believe there's something a bit "underhanded" about my "fabrication," and it seems you feel that I am somewhat unprofessional for fabricating a story such as this (again hypothetically speaking).

 

That's interesting. Exactly how would you feel about me if you could be certain the story is 100% accurate? Clearly, no story is 100% accurate, not from one man's perspective, but let's set aside the complicating factors of bias and assume for a moment that just about everything in the story happened relatively close to how I presented it. What would that make me then? Because I seem to recall being called unprofessional at the time of the posting for violating the sanctity of a private recording session. In fact, that was the most prevalent criticism of the diary entries.

 

Would you be defending me for telling all about a session without the participant's knowledge? So, as long as I'm up front with you as a reader, it doesn't matter how badly I {censored} the artist by being less-than-up-front with them, right? Then I'm a mench?

 

What if the band exists, and they KNEW I was writing the story? What if the label KNEW I was writing the diary, and they allowed me to continue with it and even provided me fodder to make the entire story more interesting? Oh, wait! According to the narrator of The Daily Adventures (that would be me), that's exactly what happened. Given those circumstances, would that make me unprofessional? I mean, in the book (if you can believe the book), I'm well aware that the label is tacitly approving my entries because they plan to use my audience of 150,000 to break the band (a common method of breaking a band is to take a small audience and use it to leverage a big audience and Jack Johnson would be a good example of this). I don't know, but if the recording engineer can act as the fulcrum that breaks a band (an unusual occurrence to be sure), there's certainly nothing unprofessional about that! I can assure you, were I able to accomplish such a feat from the position of recordist, I'd never have a day off again, and I'd command three to four times the going daily rate for the job.

 

People seem to forget, I operate within the parameters of the Major Label music business. The story, whether fact or fiction, is a demonstration of exactly how insane the business had gotten by the turn of this century. A business with a long and sordid history of less-than-noble modus operandi on every front from signing talent (Deal Memos) to getting them played on the radio (Payola) to selling cutouts and remainders for bank while literally cutting out the artist in the process. There are few clean hands in this business, and if you want to operate within the confines of the "thieves and pimps," you'd better have your wits about you at all times. While my profession at the time was as a recording engineer (I only mix and produce these days), it was as a Major Label recording engineer at a particular time in this business, and if you really evaluate it from that perspective, you might come to the conclusion that I've been nothing BUT professional.

 

That said, I'm glad you enjoyed the book.

 

Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on your perspective) Zen and the Art of Mixing is nowhere near as controversial where ethics are concerned. Zen is a book that can help anyone attempting to make music that's effective at maximizing emotional impact.

 

Enjoy,

 

Mixerman

 

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason. There's also a negative side." -Hunter S. Thompson

[humancertainty]

Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on your perspective) Zen and the Art of Mixing is nowhere near as controversial where ethics are concerned. Zen is a book that can help anyone attempting to make music that's effective at maximizing emotional impact.

 

 

I would hardly call The Daily Adventures... controversial in its ethics.

Regardless, I'm glad you have a second book out and I'm looking forward to it arriving in the mail this week.

[Agreed]

If it's entirely a fabrication, by definition there's nothing underhanded about it, now is there? I mean, you can't very well hurt the feelings of a band (or amalgamation of experiences working with multiple bands) that does not or do not exist.

 

If it's real, which of course you aren't allowed to say, I just personally feel that a "what goes on in the studio stays in the studio" approach is better. You don't have to agree with me, and I don't think you're a {censored}ty person or anything, though if any of those fake people were real people I might think they were. But if those fake people were real people, their stories, funny and -inducing as they are, are told in an entirely one-sided way, presenting them in a desperately negative light. Being fake, they don't care. If they were real, that would suck. Especially since if they were real they might be obligated themselves not to say anything about the experiences they had - or not, who knows, and anyway, as you said, they're just fabrications with the rest of it .

 

I wish you further success in your endeavors. I'm not quite sure how to read your post; if you felt I was roasting you, I protest not so, merely comparing you to Phil (and the House always wins).

[Mixerman]

If it's entirely a fabrication, by definition there's nothing underhanded about it, now is there? I mean, you can't very well hurt the feelings of a band (or amalgamation of experiences working with multiple bands) that does not or do not exist. If it's real, which of course you aren't allowed to say, I just personally feel that a "what goes on in the studio stays in the studio" approach is better. You don't have to agree with me, and I don't think you're a {censored}ty person or anything, though if any of those fake people were real people I might think they were. But if those fake people were real people, their stories, funny and -inducing as they are, are told in an entirely one-sided way, presenting them in a desperately negative light. Being fake, they don't care. If they were real, that would suck. Especially since if they were real they might be obligated themselves not to say anything about the experiences they had - or not, who knows, and anyway, as you said, they're just fabrications with the rest of it . I wish you further success in your endeavors. I'm not quite sure how to read your post; if you felt I was roasting you, I protest not so, merely comparing you to Phil (and the House always wins).

Nah. I don't feel you were roasting me, nor would it bother me if you were. But this post seems to be arguing exactly the opposite of your first.

The thing you get from a narrated book like The Daily Adventures of Mixerman is the perspective of the narrator himself. In any nonfiction story you will have discrepancies from all parties. This is a given. Unfortunately for the characters involved, they didn't have the gumption to write it, and I did. So, you get my perspective. If you like that perspective, and you think it's funny, you'll like the book. If you don't, you won't.

It's kind of like anything creative. Like I say in Zen and the Art of Mixing:

"As I

[Agreed]

On the grounds of "is it funny?" it is an absolutely massive success, and of course I enjoyed it - anyone who has ever recorded audio for another person probably enjoyed it. I didn't know you had an account here, now I see you've actually posted a fair amount (considering that you stick to topical stuff, and relatively speaking, as a "public figure").

 

In all honesty I feel like your statement regarding the events being fictional is a necessary statement, but perhaps necessary because of some reason other than it is the absolute, kneel-before-Zod truth. And as such I do wonder about what those fictional people might be thinking, but on the other hand, if they behaved half as poorly as you portrayed them, they had it coming.

 

Anyway - I read the thread on gearslutz from when the book first came out - I don't want to end up ruffling your feathers through continued engagement on the topic of is it real/is it not real (since I figure you've probably said everything in the world you will ever want to say on that anyway and your stance is of course that it's fiction), because I do find your writing enjoyable and, to a degree, informative; I take it that Zen and the Art of Mixing is intended to be more directly informative? Sorry, I haven't looked into it much, just exposed to the very idea of it through this thread.

[Mixerman]

(since I figure you've probably said everything in the world you will ever want to say on that anyway and your stance is of course that it's fiction)

 

 

My "stance" is exactly what I posted on my blog. If you read it carefully, there's a subtext which leaves other possibilities.

 

 

 

because I do find your writing enjoyable and, to a degree, informative; I take it that Zen and the Art of Mixing is intended to be more directly informative? Sorry, I haven't looked into it much, just exposed to the very idea of it through this thread.

 

 

Thanks! Yes, Zen and the Art of Mixing is a book that addresses the way you might think about mixing, and in particular the thinking that goes into maximizing the emotional impact, forward push, and payoff of the song and production.

 

Enjoy,

 

Mixerman

[Blakemore Effects]

Dear Mixerman,

 

I am angry at you. I read the first five weeks of your diaries without realizing it was only half the book. By the time I realized this I needed to know how it ended so I bought both your books. I hate you. You are a marketing genius.

 

Love,

rhcp311

 

[IamBurnout]

[Phil O'Keefe]

Ron, you're high again.

[AnderMocs]

My copy will be here tomorrow! TapeOp Volume I will be going back on the shelf, I need more mixerman.

[Ryan.]

After this post I read the whole online diary. Now I'm tempted to buy the book.

Dear Mixerman,

Will you come mix my band at The Hangar Studios in Sacramento for $50 a day?

(Is that an offer you can't refuse?)

[IamBurnout]

Ron, you're high again.

You peg me every time, Phil.

[Mixerman]

Dear Mixerman, I am angry at you.

 

 

I understand. Please go on.

 

 

I read the first five weeks of your diaries without realizing it was only half the book. By the time I realized this I needed to know how it ended so I bought both your books.

 

 

Thats great! You have hours of enjoyment (or lack thereof) ahead of you!

 

 

I hate you.

 

 

I understand.

 

 

You are a marketing genius.

 

 

If the simplest and oldest form of marketing makes me a genius, then so be it.

 

Enjoy,

 

Mixerman

[Blakemore Effects]

You forgot the part where I also mentioned that I love you.

I understand. Please go on. Thats great! You have hours of enjoyment (or lack thereof) ahead of you! I understand. If the simplest and oldest form of marketing makes me a genius, then so be it. Enjoy, Mixerman

[Ryan.]

He just ignored me.

See if I buy his book now! (I probably will.)

[AnderMocs]

Amazon boned me. It'll be a few days.

[Ryan.]

Amazon boned me. It'll be a few days.

 

 

Did Amazon at least wear protection?

[AnderMocs]

Did Amazon at least wear protection?

 

 

No.

[Phil O'Keefe]

After this post I read the whole online diary. Now I'm tempted to buy the book. Dear Mixerman, Will you come mix my band at The Hangar Studios in Sacramento for $50 a day? (Is that an offer you can't refuse?)

I've never been to The Hangar, although I've seen it advertised in TapeOp a zillion times.

Not to speak for Mixerman, but $50 a day is pretty cheap. That doesn't really even pay for the hotel room he'd need while he's up there... yet alone food, beverages, and enough extra to help cover his "real" expenses (he's gotta still pay for rent / mortgage at his "main" residence while he's up there mixing your band... ), etc. etc.

$50 an hour, plus expenses? Maybe. Heck, I'd consider it at that rate. But $50 a day? No way, Jose.

[Ryan.]

I've never been to The Hangar, although I've seen it advertised in TapeOp a zillion times. Not to speak for Mixerman, but $50 a day is pretty cheap. That doesn't really even pay for the hotel room he'd need while he's up there... yet alone food, beverages, and enough extra to help cover his "real" expenses (he's gotta still pay for rent / mortgage at his "main" residence while he's up there mixing your band... ), etc. etc. $50 an hour, plus expenses? Maybe. Heck, I'd consider it at that rate. But $50 a day? No way, Jose.

Hahaha, I know its an awful offer. I am GASSING (not the right term) for the experience right now. To just go into a studio and get treated well by an engineer and have them as interested in our music as we are. In his writing he really talks about how much he wants the flow and vibe to be perfect for the musicians and that is something I want to experience one time before I blur away into obscurity.

Being stuck in Sac sucks. We don't have much competition, so if you want the professional experience you're either at Pus Cavern or maybe The Hangar Studios.

Music is so expensive. I wish we had a thumbs down smiley.

[humancertainty]

Mine just shipped out today. I bought one for my friend, who is an engineer, as well.

[Ryan.]

Also, apparently Kanye West did some stuff at The Hangar. Which is weird to me.

[Mixerman]

He just ignored me. See if I buy his book now! (I probably will.)

 

 

Awww. Sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you.

 

$50 a day?

 

Don't my two books cost about that (if you pay full price)? You can probably read them both in a day.

 

Enjoy,

 

Mixerman

[Ryan.]

Awww. Sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. $50 a day? Don't my two books cost about that (if you pay full price)? You can probably read them both in a day. Enjoy, Mixerman

Ha!

I'm gonna pick em up I decided. Once I finish I can pass them around the band and we can all feel sad about recording into a Tascam with no chocolate muffins.