Day three of the MadDVD project. I still wonder why I found myself accepting the Tall Pointy One's request that I mix the Crim show from Shepherd's Bush in 2000 to accompany the BootlegTV footage. Punk has been in digital editing hell fighting Pat's electropercussive exuberances - coming to an eardrum near you when you least expect them. Poor George Glossop parted company with KC after this tour after years of live mixing – the strain of being sent a signal which is at one minute a puny bass drum, the next a loud explosion, and the next, well who knows, must have proved too much.
And yet there is magic waiting to be found. Mixing as art, not science. A feeble pathetic rendering of TCOL with three blindfolded players and a disembodied drummer phoning in his part from the basement becomes a cogent and engaging performance. And what has changed? The snare drum gained some distortion taking it from the centre out to the sides. The samples gained some delay, taking them from the sides back to the centre. But it is more than this. It is simply that the parts become a whole.
In a post modern world, I am often reminded that there is no one version of right. And the players may twitch. But life would be boring if they didn't.
5.00 pm. The tall Pointy One has been asked by Gert Jan Blum if he can attend the mix of the recent orchestral soundscape performance in Amsterdam. Bert Lams has already phoned to enthuse about the performance. If I can trust Punk to keep his eyes on the editor, and away from Laura, I may drop in myself, having argued long and hard for many years about this project.
21.58 pm. A troubling email from Roger Borer, the pony tailed Beast of Terror. He has received a one line response from ITV saying that the music industry is too limited a world for a TV programme. I assume this is based on a synopsis of Punk's Vicar show along the lines of "whodunits in the music industry". There are two possible reactions. Firstly, of course, he may be right. Time to stop writing these diaries, and get a life. Secondly, he may be misled by the description. The use of the word "industry" may be unfortunate. "The world of music" might be better. After all, it might include Nightclubs, festivals, studios, radio, MIDEM, TV,the faulty dishwasher at DGM – the world of music is all encompassing. If the world of antiques is large enough, why is the world of music too small?
"The necessary is possible.
The optional is expensive.
The unnecessary is unlikely."
