Sons of Selina – Mixing “Anxiety” in the Summerhouse

 

Six hours straight in Robin’s summerhouse-studio in Colwyn Bay, and we emerged battered, knackered but victorious. The “studio” was really the converted summerhouse at the back of his parents’ garden — a space barely big enough for a desk, a bed, a rack of gear, and the tangle of leads that seemed to grow overnight. Robin also lived there, so the smell of instant coffee, cigarettes and stale chip-shop wrappers hung in the air alongside the hum of synths.

We were mixing Anxiety for our burgeoning Sons Of Selina project, and it was heavy going on a Tascam 4-track. The recording was a dense sonic jigsaw that needed constant 'bouncing down' to make space to record more: two rhythm guitars, a slide guitar, bass, sequenced drums, organ, a string pad, mono synth solo, and enough vocal trickery to keep any engineer sweating. Delay on every vocal line’s end, reverse cymbals with a seven-second delay opening the song, reverse reverb on the first three cymbal crashes (with a sneaky extra delay on the third), dry vocals for verse three, a subtle guitar delay on the final note, chorus on the solo backing vocals, double vocals to close verse three, triple vocals for the final chorus run, and a few extra cymbals hammering the first four beats for good measure.

The summerhouse would shake each time we pushed the faders. Robin hunched over the desk in his wool jumper, cigarette dangling, muttering about “getting the stereo image just right.” I perched by the tiny heater, notebook in hand, making sure each mad production decision was locked in before fatigue wiped our memories.

By the time we bounced the final mix, it felt like we’d built a small sonic cathedral in that cramped garden room. Outside, the January cold bit hard — inside, the air was thick, warm, and buzzing with the hum of cables and the satisfaction of a job well done.

(In other news, the Rhyl Journal had a PSST photo running that week, advertising for a new drummer — Jon had buggered off to Canada with my ex-girlfriend. I guess bands, like songs, are always in a state of remix and mixing girlfriends eh!.)