>Hotshot rock album mixers hold an interesting position in the crafting of what musicians refer to as "their art." These are guys like Andy Wallace, Jack Joseph Puig, Butch Vig, Rob Cavallo, and Chris Lord-Alge that show up on 67% of all major label releases with theoretically "powerful" guitars. Rock mythology depicts them as old white guys with spiky shocks of Feria-dyed hair, PVC pants, artificial pumpkin-skin tans, shimmering shirts with hot-rod flames, and silver knuckle-jewelry. They sit behind beige sound boards with countless dials, levels, switches, and knobs, waiting for the latest Collective Soul, Toadies, Rehab, Offspring, or Harvey Danger master tapes to pass through. And you can't help but wonder-- these men having no true interest or input in the musical accomplishment already pressed within the ones and zeros of those DATs-- if, say, Lord-Alge hears the new Butthole Surfers album and mutters to himself, "Sweet Jesus Fuck, this is awful." https://youtu.be/4vnUg1tU5IY
