Mixing/mastering instrumentals

[R3altruth]

Is there anything fundamentally different about mixing a track sans (that's french for without) vocals? For instance... You're sending a track to a songwriter... and you really want them to feel the track so they can really write something amazing to it... Does that change anything in the mix process?
It will obviously be completely mixed after it a song has been written and referenced... The main genre for which I do this is R&B/POP....
Does having no vocal make it easier to raise the overall level? Is that not a good idea??? Brick wall limiting, not permanently.. just temp so the writer can really feel it???

[Jarp2600]

Well, if it's only meant to send to a songwriter, I think it has nothing to do with mastering yet. For the mix, I would recommend to mix the track just as you'd do IF there would be a vocal. So, leave enough space in the mix for the place where the vox will come. If the singer (m/f) records some scratch takes to the track, the song already sounds kinda professional, which might motivate and inspire the artist.
So, for making this premix, you need to imagine the singer's voice in the track, or just be a little aware of the energy you put in the 4 kHz regio :''). And further, follow your own intuition. There is no standard way of letting a song sound nice, so just try, try, try, and just mix the song until it invites YOU to sing.

Hmm, finally, stay away from hitting the volume fader again and again. If the artist wants to play the track louder, they have a volume knob themselves. :') Smashing things to smithereens has never brought any good, AFAIK!

[kjg]

Originally Posted by Jarp2600

For the mix, I would recommend to mix the track just as you'd do IF there would be a vocal. So, leave enough space in the mix for the place where the vox will come. If the singer (m/f) records some scratch takes to the track, the song already sounds kinda professional, which might motivate and inspire the artist.

Yeah, just do a good job mixing the track roughly, as if you were going to unmute the actual lead later in the process. Except instead of unmuting the vocal, the vocal still has to be performed
Carve out some space and make an appropriate space for the vocal in/on the mix.

Overall it should inspire and sound natural, and comfortable to perform to. That means you want quite some dynamics, so no brickwalling necessary.

good luck,
Klaas-Jan

[macc]

I did one or two waaaay back and found it quite useful to sing some scratch parts myself, build the mix round it then turn them off.

Sounded great as I recall - although that may have been the effect of muting my vocals

[R3altruth]

Originally Posted by macc

Sounded great as I recall - although that may have been the effect of muting my vocals

Macc... you're hilarious... this has been one of the quickest most helpful replies I've had on my posts... thanks.. you guys really make a lot of sense... More dynamic range makes sense.. The writer is probably gonna be listening to it A LOT so I wouldn't wanna crush their ears with a bunch of loudness

[kjg]

doing a quick guide vocal yourself always helps the process.

switching it of later helps the song... indeed