Talent trying to be engineer...

[John Cafarella]

A recent project had an overdub of some double kick playing 16ths. The drummer brought in a Roland drum trigger machine, TD something or other, and played the part using sticks on a pad. We attempted to match the sample to the recorded sound of the kick, but didn't do such a great job of it.

Anyway, comes mixdown time and these guys are saying"more double kick, more double kick...."

I use tannoy PMB6.5's an I KNOW how they sound in my room. I KNOW I've put the overdub in about the right place and that they're getting suckered by my room/speaker combo.

So, I re-eq/cracnk it up a bit to make the part stick out more, without wrecking the bottom end of the track, burn CD.

They come back a couple of days later and say"more double kick, more double kick...."

I give in, and crank the bottom end until they're raving.

I get a call last night saying "uh... we've listened to the cd at a few places and the double kick is too loud now.."

[davemc]

Drummers and more double kick, I did a band that did not ring back and I cannot listen to the recording as the kick is 100% loud, snare around 90% and guitar/bass and vocals in the background, hey the drummer did not play those and a song is only double kick anyway.

All I got all day was, more pedal, more pedal, I tried to rally ssupport from the other band members but the drummer ruled the ship. I soundreplaced 5 samples with his weak ass kick.

[e-cue]

Kinda makes you wonder what they do when they play it live. grudge

[alphajerk]

double kicks

[Ol' Betsey]

I hate the old:
I can't hear my guitar! = up guitar
But now the drums are too quiet! = up the drums
Yeah but dude, the women respond to bass! = up the bass

Then after you've gotten tired of fighting with everyone and the mix has been totally mashed...

You get a call from the singer who says his girlfriend can't hear his VOCALS!

Did I here the word DOUBLY somewhere?

Talent?

Luckily in this day and age Total Recall is pretty much total recall and you have a little more leeway but I still try to print MY "version" just in case.

Anyone remember the days of:
Guitar up mix
Guitar up/Snare up/Vocal up
Vocal up/Bass down
blah blah blah....

I'm glad things have changed. A little.

Or am I?

R.

[DigitMus]

I recently saw an unattributed quote from a mix engineer that went something like:
"When everybody thinks they're loudest, my job is done."
Somebody should publish a paper on 'Mix Psychology'...

Scott

[Ol' Betsey]

Maybe this should be a new topic?

True story...

I met a band tonight that I'd recorded their first album.

We were a bit pissed (drunk, in UK slang) and I asked them "Tell me the truth. The album that we did together, you thinks it's a bit tame, don't you? A bit too shiney, right?"

And he agreed that yes, As MUSICIANS, it was a little too shiney for them...

But he also said that the majority of people he talked to had said that they preferred the way the first album (my album) sounded compared to the second album (recorded by someone else). I know this is true because we have quite a few mutual friends that have expressed their opinions (and not just to me) regarding their preferences.

Is this a dilemna? What should you do? Work towards what the band feel is right? Or what I feel is right?

In a sense I've kind of answered my own question in that they've asked me to remix a new project of theirs (after I've told them that I'll still try to achieve MY sound) but it does kind of hurt, doesn't it?

How do you guys deal with this type of thing?

R.

[Ol' Betsey]

P.S.

Digitmus that is the truest thang I've ever heard...

That man was a sonic philosophist!

R.

[Jay Kahrs]

I make sure that I A/B mixes to a recording that the band knows. Usually either a few songs that I have in the studio or a CD that they bring. With that there's less of a chance of them being fooled by my room and speaker combination. Recently there was a band with one song that started with four kick hits and they wanted them to "sound big and beefy" so I did that. While mixing they kept asking to add more low end and make them louder. I said that it's fine but they were insistent. So, I finally burned them a disc of the one song to listen to in the car before I finished the mix. They came back in and said it's fine, actually they might be a little too big.
grudge

[John Cafarella]

Took the project to be mastered on Monday.

It sounds great. the band are very pleased with the result, the DK was sitting just right.

It came in under budget as the engineer spent less time than quoted.

All were happy