Do you like to wait and mix the entire album, or.....

Topo · Post by **Topo** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 12:33 pm

or.....mix each tune as each one is done? I've tended to wait until all the tunes are recorded, then shift into a mix mode and do them one after another.....but, I was wondering what the consensus is on this. I had a thought that it might be good to mix as each tune gets completed.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 1:51 pm

It depends on the project. I do it both ways. The mix on any track is never final until the project is near completion, however.

mhschmieder · Post by **mhschmieder** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 2:33 pm

Depends on the project, how it's being recorded (MIDI/notation, live, or hybrid), whether it is a collaboration with people who live far away and/or can't be present often, and the instrumentation and genre especially.

As mixing takes so long, I like to put it off as long as possible if it is primarily a MIDI/notation based project. If all-live with musicians other than myself, I mix the drums first, as that helps with how other instruments blend and also cuts way down on resources right away as drums take up the most tracks. But I don't do that many drums-based projects due to my preferred genres.

Back to the primary aspect of the original question though, I find it's an iterative process with ANY album. Usually I'll pick an outlier to mix first, as a measure of how the other material needs to blend in the overall context, but if it's too much of a "stretch" then I go to something more "average" and get it closed to a finished state, then iterate again on the outliers, rinse and repeat.

Usually though, if an album has consistent instrumentation throughout (something that for me at least is rare as my rock projects are usually only ones where I am the producer and sometimes the bassist vs. the primary driving force of the creative material), I find it useful to do "all" the drums, then "all" the bass tracks, then all the vocals, and finally the guitars as they tend to vary the most.

Most of my projects use dozens of different instruments though; many of them ones that few on this forum have even heard of. All my life I have been a sonic explorer and interested in ethnomusicology. It's great fun and enlightening, but is a REAL challenge at the mix stage! So few precedents...

Henry Robinett · Post by **Henry Robinett** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 4:11 pm

Well I just completed my CD that took a good couple of years to complete so this question is rather fresh for me. And since this is my 6th I've definitely formed my routines.

I like to record it first. This entails the basic tracking done at once. Band playing in the room. Then as I do editing and overdub and additional tracking I'm going a LITTLE mixing as I go. And the very least I set up the routing, which is considerable. But my frame of mind is not mixing.

THEN it's time to mix. But I also still find myself doing some editing. I might fix a track or re-record something. BUT I'm also mastering simultaneously. I'll throw up the mixes into my mastering program and start getting levels and eqs so I can figure where I'm at as I go.

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Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 4:43 pm

Topo wrote:or.....mix each tune as each one is done? I've tended to wait until all the tunes are recorded, then shift into a mix mode and do them one after another.....but, I was wondering what the consensus is on this. I had a thought that it might be good to mix as each tune gets completed.

Dive right in as soon as you have something mixable. The result may change the way you record the rest of the album. Also, as you go, you come up with a feel, a sound, and when you start mixing the whole album, you'll be better prepared.

Also, it may change as you do more tracks, so be open to that. If I waited until all was recorded to start mixing, I think I'd take way too long to get going, and I'd lose the advantage of having evolved the style over a number of tracks, in time.

Time is the key to any creative endeavor. Not denigrating wonderful sparks of creative inspiration; but it's time that enables you to bring that to fruition. Experiment. Try things. It takes time. Start right away. Dive in!

Shooshie

davedempsey · Post by **davedempsey** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 5:26 pm

I believe the tracking stage is part of the mix

in as much as arrangement is vital to a good mix. Each recorded part should be a vital component in the arrangement and therefore the mix - "everything louder than everything else"

The closer each recorded track is to sounding perfect the less mixing required - the perfect arrangement would almost mix itself

bayswater · Post by **bayswater** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 6:04 pm

I'm for waiting. Things happen as a project progresses and people want to go back and redo earlier tracking and mixing in light of what happens when working on later tracks.

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Mon Mar 07, 2016 5:51 am

I generally wait until the entire project is done although there is a bit of pre-mixing going on during the recording process and take home "Ruffs".

And, as noted, sometimes something magical might happen in one song that begs to be embraced or echoed in another.

And (#2), I find it easier to match vocal levels from track to track while in the mix flow.

(Insert famous Joe Meek quote here.)

Buzzy

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Basstrup · Post by **Basstrup** » Fri Mar 11, 2016 8:31 am

Sometimes artist drops one or two tracks at a time - other times whole projects shows up. So it's all over the place. Adapt or die I guess

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