Quote:
Originally Posted by matthew.sawicki  I'm based in St. Louis... and sadly not a whole lot of large projects happen here. I do work on some bigger things, but usually send them off for other people to mix before the release.
So my question for you guys is...
What do you hate?
I know when I get things from guys to mix, I usually have a few things that I wish would have been done differently. No matter how small or large, I'd like to know what things you wish people would do differently.
I guess I'm just trying to better myself and improve the things I send away to other mixers. |
HERE ARE SOME GUIDELINES THAT I EXPECT!
*These instructions MUST be followed exactly
*Matt mixes from Pro Tools HD 7.X 24 Bit
{General Guidelines}
1. I will accept SCSI External, Firewire hard drives & CDRs/DVDRs. I do not accept 24 track analog or 48 track digital tapes. If your project is one of these formats, YOU MUST DO THE TRANSFER.
2. To help insure no delays on the scheduled mix day or days, it is essential that the Pro Tools files are received 24 hours prior to the mixing session. If they are not at MT Studios 24 hours in advance, the songs or songs will not be mixed and you will be charged for that day.
3. An audio CD of the latest “Rough Mix” must be sent along with the Pro Tools files. If the “Rough Mix” and the Pro Tools files don’t match exactly, a brief note should be sent along explaining the difference (i.e. “The song was re-sung” or “We redid drums”); if this is the case, please make a new “Rough Mix” CD. The reason for this is if the arrangement is different and no explanation is given, I start to question whether or not I have the correct session.
The following instructions are to be passed along to your Pro Tools engineer.
{Tech guidelines}
1. Managing a session: Only one session should be sent for each title. It should be labeled as “(Song title) For MT. No other sessions should be included. It should be notated clearly and correctly so there is no misunderstanding what a part is. PARTS THAT ARE NOT USED SHOULD BE DELETED. Not hidden, but deleted. Hidden tracks will be deleted by me. This also includes play lists not being used. DELETE THEM (The number one reason for HUGE files is all the unused play lists). It is very easy to clean out a session and then “Save Session Copy In” checking the “All Audio Files” box to save a new session and audio files. Make sure you “Delete Unused Regions” from the session first so they don’t take up disk space in the new session. Make sure that you open up this session and that there are no missing audio files (If audio files are missing, whether they are being used or not, I will question the validity of the entire session).
2. Automation & Plug INS: Record any effects that are part of the songs integrity. For example, a guitar going through “Amp Farm” or a Telephone Vox” Efx. Label it then save the original and make sure you CLEARLY LABEL that it was unaffected sound in the note page. Once this has been done REMOVE ALL PLUG INS.
All automation should be removed from the session. Disabling the master automation is not what we mean. Delete any and all volume moves, mutes, automated plug INS, and act. From the individual channels.
3. Track Labeling: Since there is no standard for this, I ask you to spend some time and label the instruments so that there is no guessing what they are. I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten tracks labeled in “hieroglyphics”.
Vocals- Lead Vocal should be marked as such: “Ld Vx” not “John Vocal 2”. The same for vocal doubles- “Ld Vx Dbl”.
Instruments- Notate the main instruments as such: i.e. “Main Gtr”, not “Joey SG6” (add the suffix “L” or “R” if there is a pair of them). Including the section that they play is also helpful, i.e. “Brdg Pad”, not “Virus” (This is the pad that ONLY play in the bridge).
Drums- Unless there are more than one mic on any drum or room, I don’t need to know what the mic is, rather what the sound is (If you must leave the mic info, put it on the note page).
Bass Drum- “Kik” add the suffix “Inside” or “Outside” if applicable.
Snare Drum- “Snr” add the suffix “Top” or “Btm” if applicable.
Alternate Instrumentation
I know that it is impossible to make ALL the decisions before the mix, so if there are questionable parts that you may or may not want to use, these should have “?” in front of them i.e. “Brdg Gtr Line”. I will use my discretion on whether these will be used.
With all instruments, any note in the comment boxes is helpful.
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