I’m super proud of this one. Like, really fucking proud. I love it a ton. Yes, I’m normally this humble. Lemme ‘splain.
Information Society has been one of my favorite bands since the late ’80s. I was hooked the first time I heard “What’s On Your Mind”. After releasing their third album in 1992, they called it quits. The lead singer bought the name and released an album that was stylistically different, though very good, but I despaired of ever seeing them live or hearing new music from the original lineup.
Then they announced a reunion (which was inevitable, given the number of ’80s groups reunion tours I’ve seen over the past decade). Two of the members released a new album in 2007, and I finally got to see them perform live. Then all three original members collaborated for another album in 2014 titled “_Hello World“. It was the album I’d been waiting 22 years for, and I was not disappointed.
Last month, they released Orders of Magnitude, an album of covers. There’s some crazy stuff on there, like “Capital I” from Sesame Street and “Heffalumps and Woozles” from Winnie the Pooh. Included on the tracklist, however, is a truly epic cover of Sister of Mercy’s “Dominion/Mother Russia”. As I listened to it again and again (and again), ideas began to coalesce.
Media used:
- Information Society – Dominion
- Sisters Of Mercy – More (Extended Version)
- Sisters Of Mercy – More
Production notes:
- Total production time: Again, no really good count. I guess I should forego even trying to record this. Probably 20ish hours, more or less.
- I was in the middle of a different mashup when the idea for mixing InSoc’s cover of “Dominion” with SoM’s original popped into my head, but the tempos are so different I decided not to subject anything to that level of compression. While playing with that I realized that “More” was a much better candidate for mashing up with the InSoc cover. So I started working on that. The other mashup may come out at a later date, but it’s not nearly as awesome as this one.
- The chord progression is slightly different between the songs, so where I could, and if it made sense, I changed the chords on the InSoc track. It’s subtle, but I think makes the combination smoother overall.
- Fortunately there was no mucking about with pitch. Both songs were the same key. Yay!
- I knew that the mix would be based primarily around “Dominion”, so the challenge was how to bring “More” into the mix without overwhelming either track. Though I definitely threw caution to the wind on the final chorus of “Dominion”, putting pretty much everything I had into it. I had some trouble with the ending, as I usually do, but I think it came out decently well.
- Not a lot else. There was a lot of fiddling, some EQing, and a TON of adjusting the timing of “More” to match the metronomic beat of “Dominion”, but the result was totes worth it.
- Did I mention I love this mix? Because I do.
