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Can i ask in general when mixing library tracks, how long do you take to do a mix? Or more specifically, since it is easy to get lost in tweakland when mixing, do folks sit down after recording your tracks and say, this mix will be done in x number of hours? Just for clarification purposes, , if we could mention the sort of mix we are working on (seems a heavy orchestral part would take significantly longer then a guitar based rock track, for example). Do folks start with mixer presets and go from there? Or start from scratch (on my last mix, for example, starting with some CLA presets in Pro Tools SSL console seemed to be a good jumping off point…
Generally, my mixing technique has evolved to rough mixing as I go. Usually when I need a little break from writing. About 3/4 of a way through I’ll spend a bit more time to tighten it further. By the time I’ve finished writing, the mix is fairly complete. I used to spend way too much time tweaking.
Same here, I spend less than an hour (usually about 35 minutes) on a mix. I basically know how I want the mix to stand while I’m writing and programming the song. So by the time I get to the mixing stage of the project I’ve got most of what I want already in place.
Yup, especially if I’m working in a well-trodden genre for me (i.e., guitar rock), by the time the tracking is done, the mix is 90% of the way there. I stick my 2-buss processing on (color, compression, EQ, exciter, widening, limiting), tweak the threshold on the compressor and limiter, tweak the faders to play nice with the compression, jiggle the EQ around, and it’s done. It’s really rare that I spend more than half an hour on a mix, and more often than not it happens faster than that. These aren’t great mixes–they’d never fly on Top 40 radio–but they’re usually pretty good.
Which isn’t to say that I don’t sometimes bounce a dud–it definitely happens–but if I’m working with sounds I’m familiar with, I don’t sweat the mix much.
Generally, my mixing technique has evolved to rough mixing as I go. Usually when I need a little break from writing. About 3/4 of a way through I’ll spend a bit more time to tighten it further. By the time I’ve finished writing, the mix is fairly complete. I used to spend way too much time tweaking.
Very similar, its mixing as I go. I do a rough and leave it a day, usually the obvious sticks out then and I adjust. I do have my 2 bus chain setup and I have a sub group template I use all the time in my composing template.
Very similar, its mixing as I go. I do a rough and leave it a day, usually the obvious sticks out then and I adjust. I do have my 2 bus chain setup and I have a sub group template I use all the time in my composing template.
Pretty much the same.
Ditto.
P.S. love the term “bounce a dud”. 🙂
Same here, I mix as I go, and once the arrangement is finished, I’ll go through and tighten it up.
Like most have said, I pay close attention to levels and dynamics while recording and arranging everything together. From there, I generally do a separate mix the next day which usually takes about 30-45 minutes if the production has gone smoothly. If not, it’s better to go back to the arrangement before spending your whole day trying to fix a broken mix.
Like the other guys posting, I mix as I go. Some library gigs I’ve done over the years have had the same urgency as commercial demos, TV and film cues. They often need to be delivered immediately. Trailers (with the exception of custom scoring) afford me a little more time to do the re-listening a few hours or a day later.
I have some basic mastering tools on my master fader, tweaking the settings slightly depending on the piece. It’s not pretty but it does the job! When I start a new track, I’ll open the last one I did and delete all the material. This way, the mix and mastering settings (hopefully) get a little better with each new track.
When someone else (an actual professional) mixes a track I wrote for trailers, it can easily take them a whole day. There’s just so much to wade through. I love having a great mixer get their hands on a track, but it’s a big undertaking to get them all the stems they need.
I do mix a little as I go, but when the writing is complete I actually dedicated a few hours to the mix process (totally depending on the genre, of course). Then sleep on it, which reveals any issues. I aim for the best mix I can and try to be competitive with commercial releases. Actually surprised to hear that some guys spend so little time…..makes me wonder about my process.
Of course, when writing to a brief under time constraints, I mix on the fly.
I agree with @AaronM, mixing the next day seems to yield the best results for me. If I try to do my final mix on the same day that I finished writing, I’m usually not happy with the results because I make poor, rushed choices and ear fatigue is setting or already has set in. However, tonight I was able to re-sequence an old track, add new parts and cut a nearly final mix in about an hour. Tomorrow I’ll play the mix on various systems (car, home stereo, earbuds, studio headphones) and will start thinking about how to arrange the final mix. I won’t spend more than 30 minutes doing the final, otherwise mix tweaking becomes too much of a time suck.
Actually surprised to hear that some guys spend so little time…..makes me wonder about my process.
Me too! Even though I know my set-up is not ideal, less than 1 hour on a mix/master process seems like scifi to me. A mix /master process can take a 2-3 hours for the lighter tracks to a full day and a half for the heavier ones, with that process spread over a few months (My ears get tired easily).
The genres I work with are all over the spectrum though, and most of them require sound-design in the composition (Electro based), so it can explain a bit. Their complexity and poor templatability makes that a slight EQing of a single of the 40 tracks in the piece can change the whole feel of the music! And like Vlad, I do not release until it reaches at least the average sound quality of chart stuff, and that it sounds good in a small portable loud speaker, hifi speakers, car speakers and a bunch of headphones.
My set-up is also not ideal with a cpu really having trouble (my tracks are quite demanding) and the obligation to master outside my DAW (Non VST compatibile) is a real pain. Some tracks are even non-mixeable, as I do not have enough cpu margin to mix with serenity: sometimes I have to export then master the export just to see how the changes sound… Painful… so , I always have a ukulele or a guitar handy to fool around while I wait for the compilation to proceed…
I can’t wait for the huge studio upgrade I am working on to be complete: New DAW+new computer+new sound banks. My current DAW, will become a slave so I can keep its amazing sound design capabilities. Hopefully this will seriously improve my workflow and let the mix take a more reasonable place in my production process.
Thanks guys….I think it was also a Mike Senior recommendation not to “finalize a mix after dinner”…as a rule I don’t. For the stuff I generally do I feel at the maximum 2 hours should be sufficient, but I generally do the finalizing the next a.m, Then plot out my various edits and so on. If anyooe has seen the Multiplatinum Mixing video with John merchant, my general template looks like h the setup in that video, with my tracks going to stereo aux tracks then to a sub mix. Interesting article here:http://therecordingrevolution.com/2014/05/12/why-chris-lord-alge-mixes-fast-and-doesnt-look-back/
Tomorrow I’ll play the mix on various systems (car, home stereo, earbuds, studio headphones) and will start thinking about how to arrange the final mix.
I do this too! Seems like I’m never fully satisfied until I’ve at least heard a mix in the car. 🙂
As for length of time, I think it’s important to spend as much as necessary to do the job. I used to spend days on each track until I got some better tools and started realizing, better, which procedures I needed to implement in order to get the sound I wanted. It’s taken me years just to do that!
The genres I work with are all over the spectrum though, and most of them require sound-design in the composition (Electro based), so it can explain a bit.
When dealing with a lot of percussion, fx and highly dynamic content, I think it’s pretty normal to spend a few hours. Track count can certainly play a roll with that as well. Chris Lord-Alge says he likes to do about a mix per day.
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