You're Remixing Power Windows

[PurpleHayes]

Getting a bit ahead of the curve, but why not?

 

All I'd change on PW would be to remove all the stupid little synthesizer bleats, honks, and downright annoying squawks (Big Money, I'm looking at you).

 

Otherwise...I'm good.

[Nova Carmina]

To borrow from a song yet to come, "leave that thing alone"!

[HemiBeers]

More guitar grit, less synth burps and squawks. 

[Nova Carmina]

My god! We've been spammed!

 

[Pressure/Hopenosis]

Do not touch this album. It's a masterpiece!

[Timbale]

This album for my taste is pretty much recorded perfectly - I wish the bass was a tiny bit more full sounding, but on average the poppier sound of the bass he was using suits his very busy playing on PW.

 

The drums are a big step forward from GUP.  Love them.

 

The guitars are recorded beautifully to my ears - the mix of clean, The Edge/Andy Summers- like parts with dirtier distorted stuff is super interesting on this album.  I would not want to hear some fat Les Paul EQ on these songs - it would throw the balance off.

 

The keyboards are great.  Some of the more busy parts are a bit gimmicky, but to me it's part of the vibe and totally works.

 

The only change I would consider, out of interest, would be to bring the vocal harmonies up in the mix a bit.  I think this is basically the first Rush record with backup vocals (I know there's a sneaky 2nd part on Limelight)...and I feel like they were trying to have that texture without making them intrinsic to the songs - an approach which kind of disappeared on later releases.  I think it might be fun to hear the other vocals a little more prominently in the mix. 

[Vectorman]

Probably the #1 thing I'd do is clamp down on some of the guitar tracks with something like Oeksound Soothe to tone down the harshness a little. They get a bit ear-piercing at times and step on the vocal sometimes. Might pull back on the reverb on some things a smidge.

 

I wouldn't be taking out any synth parts. They were an integral part of the sound they were going for (and, IMO, achieved pretty well) in 1985. I became so intimately familiar with all of them over the years that I'd find it jarring to suddenly have some of them not there anymore.

[Todem]

Perfect record. Produced to almost perfection. 

 

I do absolutely zilch.

[Vectorman]

I was just thinking about it, and I take back what I said about not removing any synth parts. There's one thing I would take out. In the second half of the solo on "Emotion Detector" where the main synth motif comes back in underneath, IMO, it makes that bit too cluttered...which is too bad, because Alex's solo on that song is fire. I'd get that part out of Alex's way. And then I'd reprise that synth motif after the final chorus and end the song with that instead. (Granted, that's also playing armchair arranger, not just armchair remixer, LOL.)