Composers: Mixing after finishing spot / ears shot!

[summit23]

So, those of us without the luxury of an in-house mixing engineer, how do you handle mixing and meeting your spot music demo deadline, after writing and putting together the track(s)?

By the time it comes to mix, my ears are typically shot and I've got no sense of perspective or objectivity. When I listen back the next day, I hear many things that I would've changed, had I the time/fresh ears.

What do you folks do?

It would be great to FTP my stems to an unbiased mixer, but time usually does not permit such amenities.

Templates and genre-specific plug-in settings?

Fire away.

[aof21]

Originally Posted by summit23

Templates and genre-specific plug-in settings?

sure, why not?

it sounds like you're in a position where you just have to learn to mix as you go. I found "perspective" to be less important if you start to stick with certain habits. don't really know too much about the type of music you are composing there, but really developing a keen ear and understanding of the types of sounds you need to use right off the bat (whether they be live sound sources, samples or synth patches) can go a really long way in having a good mix. having some go to signal processing chains and a template for mixing including some buss processing might also work for you. sticking with some simple plug-ins and knowing them really well, not experimenting too much with new software. monitoring at a consistent level and knowing your translation from your monitors to other systems.

if you are using the same set-up and similar processes and tools and you are always the composer, the mix should not change that much from time to time. obviously if you were making an album, you might want to spend more time on the mix and have more perspective to allow more "creative" breathing room to see if any happy accidents or added layers of inspiration can flow in during the mixing process. but since you're doing contract work on a tight deadline, just keep it simple, stick with a very standard way of doing things and you'll find you hardly ever have to change stuff in the mix.

Also, you don't need a day inbetween. sometimes just a 20 minute break can provide the perspective needed.

[Fred Story]

Alden's points are very good. It's a frequent problem for us composer/engineer/mixer types. I'll bring in an engineer on big projects when time and budget allow. Otherwise I stick with my 3 personal rules of mixing.

Reference.
Reference.
Reference.

Even after the longest of days and the crispiest of eardrums, a quick listen to some well-mixed material in a similar genre will, at the very least, reveal any glaringly bad choices.

[kosmokrator]

simple. Hire a mixing engineer that works while you sleep.

I got some mixing jobs like that, because, being located in germany, I work when LA sleeps.

Mixing with closed ears after writing and composing long hours makes as much sense as mastering an album directly after finishing to mix it.

[summit23]

All good points.

I must constantly remind/force myself to take the mix to another set of playback speakers (car, laptop, tv) before ftp-ing it off to the client. I forgot to do that today -- in a whirlwind of meeting a deadline -- and had the "Doh!" moment an hour later while listening elsewhere.

The notion of limiting myself to one or two channel strip setups sounds great and all, but I feel that it also limits some creative tone-shaping opportunities.

What are you guys using for the go-to EQ/compressor combo these days? I can't decide between the UAD Neve 88RS or the SSL strip. It'd be great to pick one -- really learn the hell out of it.