When do you know when a mix is finished?

[Chrizcol]

Do you ever?

[Stevil]

when i'm sick of messing with it.

[Goliath|Audio]

Originally Posted by Stevil

when i'm sick of messing with it.

Agreed on this point. If you keep going you will most likely screw it up.

[Slaytex]

When there's no more blow...





Honestly, a mix is never finished. You just have to stop yourself sometimes. I'm a perfectionist and it can lead to over doing things sometimes so I've been trying to take a step back and i'm learning when to say enough is enough and then just move on.
It's different for everone.

[bobwarren]

George Lucas said a film is never finished. At some point, you just have to let it be what it is. If you hang on to a mix for any length of time, new technology and styles will emerge to force you to rework the recording to fit the "new sound". Army of One (Filter and STP mash-up) completely remastered a song before it went to CD to fit the times. When I mix a song, it is finished when it sounds right to me at that time. If I take a mix I did a ten years ago, it won't fit in context to today's music. It can be cool that way. Hopefully, there'll be a day when we look back and say, 'that's the era of the loudest/brightest wins philosophy" and say what were we thinking?! To me, dynamics rule! I digress.

[Roy Harter]

When your clients check bounces.

[roger]

you don't FINISH a mix......you ABANDON it!

[bobwarren]

Originally Posted by Roy Harter

When your clients check bounces.

AAAAAAAAAAAhhh, Haaaaaaaaaaaa! That's funny.

[PhilE]

When it rocks/makes you smile/vibes/grooves whatever is apropriate.

OR

When A&R want it... these are rarely the same point!

[1monkey1]

when you hit play and you're enjoying/feeling the song more than you are paying attention to the mix. you've gone from engineer to listener, and once you move past that point, the risk of draining the life out of the song is greater than the improvements you can make.

steven walcott
Engine Studios

[flail19]

When they pry it from my cold dead hands............

[PhilE]

Originally Posted by 1monkey1

when you hit play and you're enjoying/feeling the song more than you are paying attention to the mix. you've gone from engineer to listener, and once you move past that point, the risk of draining the life out of the song is greater than the improvements you can make.

steven walcott
Engine Studios

You got to be able to dip in and out- know when to take a break though- otherwise you are spot on.

I think if you just engineer you will mix out the vibe and musicality of a track... been guilty of that in the past and am very happy to have come out the other side! There are some really big names that I feel have ruined some tracks due to 'over engineering' mixes.
Before anyone asks I'm not going to use names and start a flame war!

[PRobb]

Originally Posted by 1monkey1

when you hit play and you're enjoying/feeling the song more than you are paying attention to the mix. you've gone from engineer to listener, and once you move past that point, the risk of draining the life out of the song is greater than the improvements you can make.

steven walcott
Engine Studios

Great answer!

Side question- Has anyone ever done a mix they can listen to six months later and not wish they could change something?

[chezero]

"Art is never finished, only abandoned"

-Leonardo Da Vinci

[vandertone]

Originally Posted by PRobb

Great answer!

Side question- Has anyone ever done a mix they can listen to six months later and not wish they could change something?

Aehhhmmmm, never ever.......

[Megalomaniac]

Originally Posted by Slaytex

Honestly, a mix is never finished. You just have to stop yourself sometimes. I'm a perfectionist and it can lead to over doing things sometimes so I've been trying to take a step back and i'm learning when to say enough is enough and then just move on.
It's different for everone.

this is exactly what i was going to say.

[vandertone]

May I add that a mix is done when it´s released and people love it?

[Crash]

Originally Posted by roger

you don't FINISH a mix......you ABANDON it!

The variation I heard was "You never really finish a record, you just give up on it."

[joeq]

Originally Posted by PRobb

Side question- Has anyone ever done a mix they can listen to six months later and not wish they could change something?

after six months I find it easier to let it be

while the song is still on the work drive is when I am constantly tempted to tweak it.

after six months, I get a little perspective, I hear the song as a song instead of as a mix, and I think hey, we did a pretty good job on that tune.

[The MPCist]

When I'm more or less satisfied with how it is and the A&R loves it. If the artist isn't present, usually a copy is sent to them and it's done when they are happy. If not, a quick TR and add the tweaks they want.

[Ibvee]

You should check out the guest moderated forums, this question has also been parted to quite some of the guest engineers here.

[lofi]

when hair on my arms go up.

press stop. ok. phew. done.

next...

[perx]

the combination from when I think it sounds good + when ive spent enough time on it.

Sometimes you think it sounds good, people tell you it sounds GREAT - but you keep on spending time on it trying to make it even better or "polish" it..

But that (atleast for me) usually leads to unnecessary work, wasted time..

If it sounds good - wrap it up... and start the next project.

[colinmiller]

The cock will crow 3 times when the mix is finished.

[Chrizcol]

Originally Posted by colinmiller

The cock will crow 3 times when the mix is finished.

Lol. Ok art is never finished, just abandonned. Cheers all.

[mrpony]

I agree on many points here, just have to add that it´s so much easier to finish mixes when you´re not as personaly involved in the song. When I´ve made the song, and I´m the one playing most of the instruments, then it never gets finished... Kind of obvious right..? As fast as there are more musicians involved, then the responsability for me gets so much smaller and I can focus on making a nice mix.

[RKrizman]

It's done when you start wondering if the tambourine is loud enough.

-R

[Stevil]

Side question- Has anyone ever done a mix they can listen to six months later and not wish they could change something?

after 6 months i'll usually either apprieciate the song for what it was when i worked on it or want to redo the whole thing from the ground up using the tricks i've learned since. rarely anything in between, it's usually best to let em go & move on. nice musical buoy floating around in space time to remind you where you've been.

[andremattos]

money finished = mix finished

[mixerguy]

Originally Posted by andremattos

money finished = mix finished

also - when the client say so!!!