OUR PAL MITCH
By Scott Miller Of Game Theory
photo by Robert Toren (Photo Robert)
" I think we ought to go with the humble one" was a tyical Mitch remark, meaning he preferred a less overbearing guitar sound on a certain cut.
It was a big thrill for Game Theory, not just to have landed the opportunity to work with Mitch on our new LP, "Real Nighttime", but to see him in action using his amazing studio fluency.
"We can always make it more fabulous in the mixdown"
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Our label, Rational Records, flew Mitch to California so we could start the basic tracks out here. Mitch and I shared a double room at Motel 6, and we had plenty of free time to discuss his adventures in the biz, his recent tour with Echo and the Bunnymen, his old group with Chris Stamey, the Sneakers, and of course, R.E.M.
While doing the lead vocal tracks, I was all too aware that Mitch was used to working with Michael Stipe, who has an astounding voice, and alledgedly never has to do more than two takes of a song, and even two is rare. Mitch made me feel better by telling me about a few instances where Michael had proven sub-godlike. He was also never excessively picky about getting flawless performances.
In fact, the more raw and experimental the production was in general, the more it gripped Mitch's interest. He doesn't get excited about creating that '80s radio sound. He wants a project to have as much of it's own identity as possible.
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For the mixdown, we both flew back to the now repaired Drive-In Studio (which was fried by a lightning storm during the Cypress sessions). It's called the Drive-In because it's built in Mitch's parent's garage. I stayed in a guest bedroom that was filled with shoulder high stacks of master tapes (Pylon, R.E.M., Let's Active, all the Drive-In gang. I even got to hear some unreleased stuff). Here Mitch was really in his element, with all his favorite studio gizmos, a gigantic plate reverb, an old compressor with no external controls, a lava lamp and a "Missiles: 1960" poster.
Let's Active practices there and I got sit in on a couple of rehersals. They are all approachable people who love music and dogs (there were four at the house and some other appear in their "Every Word Means No" video), and didn't seem to mind a strange yankee sitting around the house.
When the mixing on Real Nighttime was finished, we made a cassette and played it on every conceivable type of system, from an early '70s portable crackerbox to the studio monitor system ( the "Studio 54 speakers, as Mitch calls them). Mitch and I think it sounds great no matter what you play it on.
So buy 'em by the carload!
