My very first job in Paris ! This very ambitious project unfortunately didn’t get all the attention it deserves, despite the efforts of Carlos Santana to promote it in the States.

Album « Black Boards », Comotion, 1991

For those with an eye for the finer details, we salute you...

I only got involved in this highly interesting project at the mixing stage. I had recently arrived in Paris and this was my first foot in a parisian studio.

One of the songs (Yaleo) was a bit scaring us as the 48 tracks had been filled up because the whole song is an encounter between African and Gipsy cultures and moves from one to the other. Audio morphing in a way... Finally it turned out to be the easiest one to mix since the tape itself and the space it took on the console did not leave us many options.

Another much interesting process was to transfer digitally onto the multitrack all the final mixes in the right order, to create and insert all the effects and ambiances that link the songs throughout the album.

Special luck was with us after the 10th song (Babe I know) as the sax solo performance by Didier Malherbe ends perfectly to introduce the next and last song (What I see in your eyes), although we didn’t know the order when recording him...

The last song is also my favourite mix on this album, even though I stupidly forgot to send that bloody cabassa in the autopan thing at the very end. pffff!

It was my first job in Paris. I’m having the mastering done somewhere else now...