how LOUD do you mix?

[Musiclab]

for me it depends on the track and if I've tracked it. If I tracked it then I know all about the song, so I'll start with drums, but overheads first then kick, then snare ,
then room, then hat , then toms, then bass , then I'll get the vocal up. Then I start filling in around that. If I haven't tracked then I start with everything up.

[DesertDawg]

Originally Posted by peeder

Oh no not this again.

Sorry it's not your fault you've just been hoodwinked by people with an agenda.

Actually, no, that's not the case - i've always thought it's a good idea, especially if someone's going to be keeping it in the digital domain for mastering. So, you're saying it makes no difference? In that case, it's purely my misconception.

Originally Posted by peeder

So why are they saying this? The ones who are saying this myth are doing so because they are fighting on the quiet side of the loudness war, and they figured if they spread this myth that mixers would stop putting limiters on (or clipping) their 2bus.

Well, I'm fighting the "sounds best to me, given the song's genre" side of the loudness war I could care less if I'm PRMS-ing at -12db for a singer-songwriter's ballad, or -4 for a numetal band, as long as I can get there without distortive artifacts... which, I'll admit, can be a real beeyatch sometimes.

Originally Posted by peeder

Same with the myth of taking all your bus treatments off for mastering. Don't do it! Your bus treatments that you mixed through are ESSENTIAL for holding your mix together, and the mastering engineer HAS NO CHANCE of replacing them!

That's a good point & makes a lot of sense... i just always figured that a good mastering house is likely to have a better compression scheme than I do... They might have an STC-8 or an Atomic Squeezebox, or something equivalently high-end that I don't have. Makes total sense what you said about the possibility of losing a certain "mojo", though, if there are certain characteristics that whatever i used may have imparted to the mix.

[James Meeker]

Hrm, since everyone's talking about their mix method I'll share.

Typically I do a balance mix first. No compression, no EQ, no panning except on the stereo tracks like OH's... just faders. I'll put that together fast, like 15 minutes. I'll throw everything up and just adjust, focusing on whatever seems primary to the track--on heavy rock/metal songs I often work the guitars first and build everything around that, on hip hop the vocal/kick/snare are the "core" of the song, and so forth. After this is done I often slap on a mix buss compressor--on the SSL obviously it's going to be the Quad Comp, but for straight PT mixing in the box I'll either jump on the Fairchild plugs or Sony Oxford Dynamics in classic mode. Works for me.

Next I bring in compression, limiting, gating, and expansion as needed. If the balance mix is solid it will let you know what's not sittin' where it should be all the time. I'll spend a bit more time on this, maybe 30 minutes.

Once compression is in my mix is pretty much working on volume levels alone, counting AGC devices. Now it's time to LISTEN for masking--I'll focus on what cuts I need to make to get things to sound clear and detailed. After that's sorted out I'll start looking to chop out any remaining mud/haze--usually the HP filters start coming out in force to tighten that low end up. I'll spend maybe 15-30 minutes on this.

After this is all done I'll pan out the tracks and see what's up. Give everything a good listen. Then it's time for a break to get away from the music for awhile... maybe 5-10 minutes.

My goal is to get the *FRAMEWORK* of a mix in about 1-2 hours. That way I can focus on the fine details, automation, and making the track really shine without getting bogged down. I've found the quicker you get to this stage the better--you're putting tracks together quicker, spending more time in "the zone" of working with an almost complete mix, etc....

The other thing is you avoid the temptation of soloing tracks to "mix." I like to do my changes in the mix to see the broad implications and get instant feedback. I'll solo stuff if I have to really zero in, or to get a "feel" for what lives where on something more detailed. I may solo groups of tracks to get them working together well (like a mix I was doing today--the artist has egg shaker, tamborine and high hat all going at once, I solo'd those 3 tracks to get a decent feel for 'pushing and pulling' EQ to make each part audible from the next and not just turn into a mess of jangly, trebly crap).

These are the broad strokes, obviously the nitty-gritty is more intense and varies song to song.

[ScumBum]

Originally Posted by James Meeker

After this is done I often slap on a mix buss compressor--on the SSL obviously it's going to be the Quad Comp, but for straight PT mixing in the box I'll either jump on the Fairchild plugs or Sony Oxford Dynamics in classic mode. Works for me.

I use the Sony Oxford Dynamics on my Mix Bus too . I like the Warmth option.......mmmmm warm........ . As soon as I add it , my mixes come to life .