Mixed with MEGA
Darren Johnston mixes the session of Canadian Singer-Songwriter Cat Jahnke.
The Song
“The Final Countdown” was written by Joey Tempest and released by the Swedish Rock group Europe in 1986. It soon became an international pop/rock anthem hit. Inspired by the current state of the world, Cat Jahnke decided to remake the song and give it an apocalyptic treatment. What transpired was a dark, yet hauntingly beautiful rendition of the track that has its foundation built around Cat’s lead vocals and multilayered harmonies. The rest of the instrumentation turns this iconic song into something you’d hear in a Mad Max movie instead of an 80s rock station.
About Darren Johnston (Producer)
Darren Johnston has been referred to as the “Swiss Army Knife” of multimedia. He works from his home studio in Winnipeg, Canada, and has been the mixing and mastering technician on several Juno Award Nominated albums (the Canadian version of a Grammy). Darren has been Cat Jahnke’s exclusive audio producer, video producer, web developer, graphic artist, agent, road manager, sound tech, and personal sandwich maker since the beginning of her music career. Although he wears many “hats,” audio production has been and always will be Darren’s primary discipline and passion.
About Cat Jahnke (Singer-Songwriter)
Saskatchewan-born singer/songwriter Cat Jahnke has built a loyal international fan base, touring regularly and releasing four albums. A musical chameleon, the award-winning artist, is constantly reinventing herself: as a folk musician, film composer, a video game character, and even as a reality show contestant. With each project under her belt, Cat proves time and again that she is capable of upending expectations and delighting fans, both old and new, with her music.
The Session
This track was part of a series of cover songs that Cat releases every month on her YouTube channel (http://youtube.com/catjahnke). Cat arranged this song using piano and (a lot) of vocals. All of the instruments were created using sample libraries and then later converted to audio. Cat recorded all of her vocal tracks in her home studio using a RODE K2 microphone straight into an Apogee Duet 2 preamp. Logic X was used as the DAW. I took her session and added the production elements to fill everything out and complement the vibe she had created with just a piano and her vocals. The entire session was mixed and mastered using only PA plugins! We hope you enjoy what we came up with.
The full session contains 31 AIFF files recorded at 24bit / 96kHz. With the session, you have complete control over every track of the mix. Alternatively, you can also download the session stems, which contain 16 AIFF files that I have exported out to their most fundamental components. The lead instruments, such as drums, bass, piano, lead vocals, remain on their own tracks. I have exported all secondary instruments like synths, sound FX, and group backing vocals, into their own stereo stems. Since most of the tracks of the song were created from virtual instruments or exported as a group, all of the tracks in the stems download folder are stereo files except for the lead vocal.
Extra note: the intro of this session was recorded “freely” (not to a click track). The song kicks into its 110 BPM groove starting at measure 18.