New Music on the Way

Mid December found me in a creative mood again so I'm happy to share that I've started work on a new album that will be released in mid February. It's another instrumental concept album and I have some great ideas worked up. Stay tuned. 

Mixing Catalina Rush

As I worked on each song I would dial in a rough mix which made mixing the album a bit easier. It's ultimately a pretty lengthy process though. Playback on several devices was key but I used one as my main source for deciding which mix was final. I spent the last week of July and right up until the release on August 10th working on the final mixes.

I used the following effects on individual channels:

Bittersweet

Blind Fold EQ 

B.O.D. 

Calf Reverb  LADSPA - I used this one mainly on the drums but it did find it's way on to a handful of other channels. 

Roth - AIR

For the Stereo Buss I applied the following on each track in the following order:

FerricTDS 

MIS Stereo Buss Compressor 

LoudMAX

Mixing can be quite intimidating but I'd encourage someone making music to jump in and play around before shipping your tracks off to be mixed by a professional. If you have any questions about my mixing process you can contact me via the contact form here on the site or you can e-mail me at CraigCohenMusic@gmail.com.  

Track 11 - Catalina Lord

 "Catalina Lord" was the first song for the project and was originally titled "Catalina Rush". Once I dialed in that heavy sound on the HaNon (inspired by Deep Purple's John Lord) and started to solidify the concept the title was changed. The track is pretty sparse with just the HaNon, bass and drums. I also have the Kee Bass low in the mix playing a redundant bass line. I planned to use the Kee Bass more on this project and hope to use it more in the future.

This track is really all about the organ solo for me and it was fun coming up with it. I used the guitar less for composing it than I did the rest of the solos on the album.

Track 10 - Catalina Promise (Reprise)

 "Catalina Promise (Reprise) was my first successful attempt at using strings in one of my songs. When working this song up I had some cello sounds that really weren't working. Thankfully I found Spitfire Audio LABS and my problem was solved. I look forward to utilizing strings in future projects. Also look for the violins taking over the melody from the piano in the second half.

Track 9 - Catalina Mourning

 "Catalina Mourning" is another track where I think I nailed the mix. The drums breath and the tom fills sit nicely in the sonic space. I used the Versilian Studios Upright 1 VST for the acoustic piano sounds. It's another quality free VST and with a few adjustments the results can be pretty convincing.

Track 8 - Catalina Dip (The Drip)

"Catalina Dip (The Drip)" is another mix that I'm pretty happy with. The drums snap, crack and pop and the bass sits good in the mix and is a great showcase of what the Ample Bass P Lite can do. Overall just a fun, driving track that moves us towards the last 3 tracks on the album.

Track 7 - Catalina Kush

 

"Catalina Kush" is my current favorite song from Catalina Rush. It's got another great "band" feel to it. The interplay between the HaNon and ZoonChak exceeded what I thought I'd achieve. The one key thing I really enjoy is the synth going nuts and that was completely by accident. As previously stated I approach things like the guitar player I am and the synth note layout I went with created that wild sound.

Track 6 - Catalina Cruise

"Catalina Cruise is another track that was produced pretty late in the process. I had worked it up as "Catalina Drama" (I was listening to the Yes album Drama around this time) with the ZoomChak and HaNon and was unhappy with the results so it went in my riff folder. After seeing what LABS could do though I gave it the string treatment and had the song. You can hear the ZoomChak towards the midway point and I also worked in the Mellotron VST Redtron.

"Catalina Cruise" and the track before it "Catalina Rumble" are a great bridge between "Catalina Days & Catalina Nights" and the next song I'll be covering "Catalina Kush".

Track 5 - Catalina Rumble

 "Catalina Rumble" was one of the last songs written for the project. It takes full advantage of Spitfire Audio's LABS. LABS is an amazing free resource and I think this track is a good showcase of what you can accomplish with it. I used the dulcimer, mandolin and strings and really enjoyed exploring new sonic territory.  

Track 4 - Catalina Days & Catalina Nights

"Catalina Days & Catalina Nights" is one of the songs on the album that has a very strong guitar influence. On guitar I enjoy playing power chords starting on the D string with the root, the 5th and then the root octave. Using that approach I came up with the main riff on guitar and it transposed over to the HaNon B70 beautifully. This was the most challenging mix on the album and I worked on it right up until release day. As previously stated the HaNon in full on dirty mode takes up a lot sonic space. The ZoomChak does as well and it was challenging to find space for those two instruments while also finding a spot for the hi-hat, other cymbals and toms to sit. I'm ultimately happy with the results but am looking forward to refining the sonic space of my songs as I continue to produce music.  

As a final note the name of the song was inspired by The Beach Boys and their album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!).  

Track 3 - Catalina Promise

 "Catalina Promise" is probably the song that sounds closest to the original concept for the Catalina Rush project. I really like the way the HaNon B70 and the Sweetcase electric piano blend together. I'm also really happy with the overall mix on this one, and it's probably because there isn't any one instrument sucking up all of the sonic space. Look for the band feel when the drums switch to the ride cymbal during the piano break. That's a detail that I explored late in the mixing process and I feel it adds some extra excitement to the track.

Video - Catalina Kush

Catalina Kush from Craig Cohen on Vimeo.

Copyright 2020 Craig Cohen

No rights to clips claimed or implied. 

Clips courtesy of:

Peggy_Marco

Engin_Akyurt

Micah Buzan

PixLord

Vimeo-Free-Videos

Dieter_G

TH-DARK-Media

ChristianBodhi 

StefWithAnF

Track 2 - Catalina Rush

This is the second song I titled "Catalina Rush". The first was "Catalina Lord" but I didn't feel it worked with that title. Once I came up with the octave driven bass line for the real "Catalina Rush" though I knew I had my song. The ZoomChak is front and center on this track with brief breaks for the bass and drums to slow things down with a "Black Sabbath" style feel.  

This was one of the hardest songs to mix. The ZoomChak takes up a lot of sonic space and I struggled to find space for the aggressive open hi-hat. The HaNon is pretty far back in this one and was added during the mixing process. I'll focus more on the mixing process once I'm done covering each song.

I'll be back tomorrow to write about song three "Catalina Promise".