"We mixed Revelator throughout last July and August [2023] from my studio in North Hollywood. I live in L.A. and Matthew is in Nashville, so we worked remotely, which is not at all uncommon anymore, but it was extremely collaborative in a way not all mix gigs are. We'd have a few daily calls to talk through different things from the previous day. It's a dense record, instrumentally, it's one of the aspects I love so much about it. A lot of the process became getting that amount of harmonic information to coexist. I'd make a lot of mutes and edits, maybe duck one thing and highlight another event, and Matthew would call and say, 'I think you muted my favorite string line of that section. We would go back and forth like that a few times, just whittling away. I'm grateful for the amount of trust and freedom Matthew gave me to dig in like that.
Jennifer Decilveo Playlist
One of my favorite records of 2024 to date is Phosphorescent's Revelator. It's a beautifully recorded album, featuring Matthew Houck's timeless songwriting and lyrics plus gorgeous arrangements. I was hooked the first time I heard the title track. I recently picked up a copy of the vinyl LP, and as I was reading the credits I noticed that the album was mixed by Tape Op contributor Dave Cerminara, so I thought I'd drop him a line and find out more about the mixing sessions. -JB
