As many of you already know, years ago a series of “Superstar Car Wash” demo sessions leaked online. One of those leaks included Pre-Mixing Cuts of the final songs which ended up in the album. What is a pre-mixing cut? Let’s have the experts talk about it for a minute. The information below was taken from this source.
Although most people won’t notice it, when done right, it turns a song it into something better. Mixing is more than adjusting the volume levels of vocal tracks and individual instruments. Even though there are other parts of mixing, what is audio mixing in music and why is it important?
Audio Mixing is a process of blending individual things in a recording to come up with as good as a possible version of a song. The mixing process includes:
- Fine-tuning the sense or sound of each instrument using and EQ (equalization)
- Balancing pre-recorded track levels
- Panning tracks between speakers to come up with a stereo image
- Compression, Adding reverb and other effects, improve the already recorded song.
- Taking your song from Good to GREAT!
In a nutshell, Mixing allows musicians to fine-tune the final versions of the recorded songs they want included in their release, improving them in terms of sound quality whilst establishing the complete, overall musical mood of their creation. Mixed songs represent the core of a band’s musical idea, such as how they want the listener to enjoy the finalized version of their craftsmanship. It is the second-last step in the recording process, taking place before final mastering is performed.
When listening to this release, it is likely you will not notice many substantial differences between the pre-mixing cuts and the released versions of the songs. Listen carefully though, because they are definitely there. If you’ve heard the album many times, like I did, you will certainly spot them. Examples include:
- Brief drum intros right before the track begins. A common way for drummers to announce the song is starting, so other members can synchronize themselves for proper execution
- Emphasis on choruses, or its exact opposite. You may hear parts of the songs featuring choruses being louder than the final release, or quieter
- Differences in reverberation, with heavy instruments being louder or, like in the bullet point above, quieter
- Some instruments may sound clearer compared to their released counterpart, or muffled. Same goes for sung parts
- Other minor discrepancies…
Interestingly enough, this version of the “Superstar Car Wash” demo sessions also includes two instrumental takes for the tracks “Stop The World” and “Another Second Time Around“. I am not sure why that is the case. I decided to include them as a way to preserve as much as possible the original state of the leak.
“Superstar Car Wash” mixing was done by Gavin MacKillop, the genius Scottish sound engineer who also produced and recorded the album. Below is a picture of Gavin. John Rzeznik mentioned that after they finished recording the album in Canada with him, MacKillop ended up hating the band, and interrupted his relationship with the Goo Goo Dolls. It is not known why that happened. Sure enough, “Superstar Car Wash” was the only Goo release he worked on, as all of the subsequent projects featured other producers, mixers, engineers, etc…
If you wish to listen to this release, you can check the playlist below. Download links are also available, for archival purposes.
TRACK LISTING:
- Stop The World (Instrumental)
- Another Second Time Around (Instrumental)
- Fallin’ Down
- Another Second Time Around
- On The Lie
- Close Your Eyes
- Stop The World
- Lucky Star
- We Are The Normal
- String Of Lies
- Domino
- Cuz You’re Gone
- Already There
- Girl Right Next To Me
- Don’t Worry
- So Far Away
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