We have three mixers on the show: Rick, Rick and (just so we don’t confuse him with the other two) Rich. Over the last two nights a dozen of us have been sitting in a large darkened room in Burbank as Rick, Rick & Rich have shuttled the tapes to and fro as they massaged the sound to aural perfection. Rick The Music mixed ‘The Wall’ tour and has worked with Alice, Bob Ezrin and other artists that also appear on my resumé. Rick The Dialogue has worked with Paula, Andrea and her late Dad. Rich (effects, backgrounds, foley) mixed Dead Connection for me and Jonathan over 7 years ago and still greets us with a happy face. As is the nature of our business we have discovered many things in common as we have toiled through till dawn making sure Buss’s charges sound at their best on their way down the Eastern Seaboard.
Our mixing stage is in the process of being re-modelled so the loos aren’t working. Every now and again one of us gets up and sidles outside to where two lonely portapotties stand in the gloom bathed in the late-night sodium. I pondered upon the ‘glamour’ of Hollywood last night as I returned to the stage and finally succumbed to the fatigue that raged like a fever through my bones. I lay down on the floor of the stage and slept like a dog for an hour while Jonathan covered for me. He is remarkably resilient and keeps his eye on every moment determined to make sure the picture is as good as it can be. I confess the process has ground me down and all I wish for is to see that master tape slipped inside its Fed-Ex envelope and shipped to New York.