Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - musicians performance vs recording quality

slaveern · 16th May 2008, 08:28 PM

First off, I'm an amateur basement studio dude. I spend spare time recording local indie bands.

I think I need to improve on my mix 'tightness', where I think musicians performance play a big part (play in-tune/on-beat/no-mistake for ALL tracks). OTOH, how often should one fixes their performance (tune/beat) mistakes to make a 'tighter' sounding mix? How much time do you usually spend time with band to track (1:1 track to mix time ratio?)? Seriously, if I think everything needs to be nailed on the head, tracking would actually take much much more time than mixing (like 3x)... would you agree? When should an engineer wear a 'producer' hat and tell the band what to do, retrack...etc.?

One thing is that now I charge per hour tracking plus a fixed charge for mixing. I don't dare to tell those guys that we should 'retrack' over and over again: one thing is ego's always in the way (e.g. piss off client), the other is that $$$ is on them. It ends up that the product suffers. Previously I charge a fix price for everything, and obviously, ended up my personal time suffers.

I don't use a lot of tools in 'fixing' mistakes other than general cut/paste editing(instruments/vocal), occasional up/down tune a word or two (vocal)...etc. What are some other tools that are currently use in this area?

Greatly appreciate any opinions on this subject.

slaveern.....

16th May 2008, 08:28 PM	#1
slaveern Gear nut Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 84	musicians performance vs recording quality First off, I'm an amateur basement studio dude. I spend spare time recording local indie bands. I think I need to improve on my mix 'tightness', where I think musicians performance play a big part (play in-tune/on-beat/no-mistake for ALL tracks). OTOH, how often should one fixes their performance (tune/beat) mistakes to make a 'tighter' sounding mix? How much time do you usually spend time with band to track (1:1 track to mix time ratio?)? Seriously, if I think everything needs to be nailed on the head, tracking would actually take much much more time than mixing (like 3x)... would you agree? When should an engineer wear a 'producer' hat and tell the band what to do, retrack...etc.? One thing is that now I charge per hour tracking plus a fixed charge for mixing. I don't dare to tell those guys that we should 'retrack' over and over again: one thing is ego's always in the way (e.g. piss off client), the other is that $$$ is on them. It ends up that the product suffers. Previously I charge a fix price for everything, and obviously, ended up my personal time suffers. I don't use a lot of tools in 'fixing' mistakes other than general cut/paste editing(instruments/vocal), occasional up/down tune a word or two (vocal)...etc. What are some other tools that are currently use in this area? Greatly appreciate any opinions on this subject. slaveern.....