I recently spent a big chunk of my days working on a record by my friend Luther Russell. We decided it would benefit the record to mix at a different studio, Supernatural Sound. I've spent most of the last three and one half years cooped up in my own studio, Jackpot!, making records and hadn't ventured into other studios to work on stuff. I was worried — Would I figure out how to set all the compressors? Would the monitors mislead me? How does the automation work? Would I like the board's EQ? How do I program all the stupid digital reverbs?
When we got there, we had to learn the automation. This wasn't too bad but took getting used to. Then there were all of the new compressors, EQs and reverbs. What should I do? I'd developed ways of working at Jackpot! that were almost rote. I found myself in a new environment. I started pushing the sounds around with all these compressors and EQs and felt like I was battling the mix through to completion. Then it hit me — all I had to do was listen. We took more time to listen to Byrds CDs to get used to the speakers. I would put up a new song and start bringing up the faders before I inserted compression, EQ or added effects. When I had to set a compressor I would try not to look at my hands, the knob settings or the gain reduction meters. On the EQ I would turn the knobs around until sounds worked better. I tried to only listen to the differences in the sound.