Great Escape - alternate mix

The idea to do an alternate mix came from all those times I spent in the studio during mixing sessions on past recording projects, listening as SS would solo various combinations of recorded audio tracks in order to set their relative levels. He would mute this track and solo that track, and each combination would give the song a different feel and different character. I pondered that we could use the same source recordings to create a totally different mix of the same song just by emphasizing a different combination.

I thought we could try this on The Great Escape. I didn't have anything specific in mind for an alternate mix; I simply thought let's try this. I discussed this with SS and he suggested that we try an alternate approach to the percussion. The mix we made in December used a standard tom kit (sampled); this time he wanted to try it with an ethnic style percussion.

So we built a new set of percussion tracks and then mixed it with all the guitar work we recorded in December - and the idea worked. I had thought that with an alternate mix, I'd end up with a two different flavours of the same song; instead we ended up with an improved version of the song.

We still need to do a final mixdown and master the track, and then I'll be ready to post it to GarageBand.com.