How to Save the Mix Engineer's Time: A Primer

[Scinx]

In the vein of the thread found here I was wondering what are some things that one can do while tracking that would save a mix engineer time.


Thanks

[djui5]

naming the tracks from the start so the audio file is named properly helps.

Also, mic'ing drums for maximum isolation helps a ton also, unless your doing a jazz date

[AlexLakis]

I like my tracks arranged in the order in which they appear in the song, that way, when something comes in, I know I can just look to the next line for the culprit.

[MJGreene Audio]

Couple of big things for me. As Randy mentioned. Name all the tracks clearly and the audio files clearly so that there is no guess work. Also if your not using a track then either deselect it and hide it or just delete it from the session. I can't tell you how many sessions I get that have tracks muted or they get left un-muted and you spend time trying to figure out what in the hell someone was going for with that track.

Also if your using PT's then please do a Save Session Copy In and set it to copy ALL the audio files to a new clean session. I get so tired of opening sessions and not having files show up.

If you have something cool going on with the automation then make sure the mixer knows about it and doesn't delete it or print it to a new track with all the automation or cool effects you have come up with. Wouldn't hurt to leave the un-effected or automated track hidden in the session in case he want's to go back to it.

And my biggest pet peeve!!!! Don't ever print auto tune without having an un-tuned back up track somewhere in the session. I swear that I wonder if ANYONE at home actually knows how to use Auto tune. I wouldn't guess so judging from some of the tracks I have been given.

I don't think this all goes with tracking but if you think it through from tracking to handing it off then you won't have as much work to do to turn it over......

Michael Greene

[Dave Martin]

Consolidate! Make decisions when tracking, and don't leave 19 almost identical guitar tracks for the mixer to sort out.

Oh - record the tracks well, so the mixer won't be needing to spend time fixing what you should have done (and didn't do) right.

[picksail]

And if you intend to put the drums on a grid, for god's sakes, please do it prior to the mix. And please, clean those regions.

Also, if you are savvy and meticulous, please remove all unused regions/playlists from the regions bin. Ensure that the removal of extraneous files also corresponds with the files on the drive. Nothing worse than transfering sessions from the clients drive to my personal 'work' drive to discover that a session, which could be have been reduced to 3 GB, comes in at 12GB. Now imagine working at 96k.

If you have additional takes cut these down to the bare minimum then rename/consolidate. ie. Bass 1 Take 2 w/pick, Bass 1 Take 3 w/Ebow, etc. You never know what will get used at mix time. It's good to have a few alternatives.

At the end of the manicuring process, zero all regions to ensure that if 'worst case scenario' is encountered then we can easliy align all tracks during the Import Audio to Track process.

I used to have a super-anal way of Manually Timestamping the regions. What I would do was instead of zeroing the region I would include only the necessary audio information in various protions of the track. i.e Bass 1 0.00.000 or Bass 1 0.30.243. This method saved a ton of hard drive space and was my M.O. for a while and still prefered, yet it's soooooooo time consuming. Of course, Ross Hogarth informed me that I had completely lost my mind, but hey.

Manicure people, manicure.

[gainreduction]

Don't laugh... Write a tracksheet. Then there is no way to misunderstand what files should be in the mix. A good old fashioned tracksheet. stike

And why not bounce all tracks with the same start point. No edits and fades that might get screwed up that way. And it makes a session very clear and easy to work with. Especially if you have the tracksheet aswell. Then it's almost comparable to handing over a multitrack tape. And you have a copy of the session to archive at the same time. One that you can import to any DAW, and the tracksheet will make it a LOT faster when you need to remix it in 10 years for another format.

When you're working on a session you know exactly what is what. But imagine opening it in 5 or 10 years, staring at a million options (decisions not made) and trying to figure out what should be used. If it's even possible to open the session anymore. That's why a session with bounced tracks, all with the same starting point is unbeatable. You're not dependent on the session anymore. Import the files and press play. Even in 10 years from now.

[Jamz]

Usually, recordings from professional studios and experienced engineers arrive in good shape.

Always a help:
- Label tracks.
- Organize tracks
- Consolidate audio.
- Duplicate any audio you intend to process so there's a copy of the original in tact.
- Attach clear documention with session specifics and delivery requirements.
- Always retain a backup of the original session.

Occasional problems to avoid (typically not from professional studios or experienced engineers):
- Do not over compress while tracking. Especially vocals.
- Make sure that any recorded distortion or overloading is intentional and not an oversight.
- If you're not going to attend the mix record or automate your drop outs in advance.
- For those who've just purchased a new keyboard...resist the urge to record every percussion instrument offered by the new toy.
- Also with keys, unless the reverb is essential to the sound turn the keyboard verb off. Especially on bass.

[robmix]

Originally Posted by AlexLakis

I like my tracks arranged in the order in which they appear in the song, that way, when something comes in, I know I can just look to the next line for the culprit.

That's an interesting idea, but you might send an engineer fishing for tracks a bit. Most engineers like to see things grouped with like instruments, i.e. all the drums together, all guitars together, vocals etc. My biggest pet peeve is unorganized sessions. Lead vocals at the top with vocal doubles somewhere in the middle of the session and backgrounds spread around and in between drums. Guitars just sprinkled throughout. I layout my session the way I used to layout analog tape so it would show up how I wanted it on a console. For instance:

tracks 1-10 drums
11-12 percusssion
13 bass
14-18 guitars
19-20 keys
21-23 backgrounds
24 lead vocal

I recently mixed a song for someone that had 96 tracks and was completely unorganized, drums and vocals all over the place. It just takes longer to get the thing under control.

[cgarges]

Be sure to save PT or similar files for Mac OR PC compatibility. I have no idea why someone wouldn't do this, but I've seen it.

Also, don't think that every track has to be peak limited to get them all up to digital zero. I'd rather get tracks that are conservatively light than tracks with too much compression on them. I also don't like mixing with a bunch of my faders at -40.

If there is no stereo information on a particular instrument, record it as a mono track.

Track sheets are a big help. They should include sample rate and bit depth, as well as start times, if the songs aren't in separate folders, and the tracking engineer's contact info. Some other helpful bits are maps of the song form and information about where a certain track comes in, if not at the top ("EGTR #4, enters at outro @4:26").

This is some stuff I've run across.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[wallace]

Awhile ago, an engineer friend sent me a copy of the "Guidelines for Pro Tools Session Interchange". There is some useful information there. I'll attach it for everybody to take a look at.

"If engineers adopt a consistent set of practices for Pro Tools sessions that achieves commonality in labeling, file management and audio track maintenance, the digital workstation method of recording and mixing can realize substantial improvement in productivity. This paper presents suggested guidelines specifically to aide in improving the exchange of sessions between various recording facilities and/or engineers."

[rickrock305]

Originally Posted by Jamz

- Also with keys, unless the reverb is essential to the sound turn the keyboard verb off. Especially on bass.

YES.....PLEASE!!!!!!


can't tell you how many times I've gotten that crap.

[jonnyclueless]

Originally Posted by cgarges

Be sure to save PT or similar files for Mac OR PC compatibility. I have no idea why someone wouldn't do this, but I've seen it.

Also, don't think that every track has to be peak limited to get them all up to digital zero. I'd rather get tracks that are conservatively light than tracks with too much compression on them. I also don't like mixing with a bunch of my faders at -40.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I'm not saying that audio should be printed up to 0dBFS, but with proper calibration it's not much of an issue. For some reason a lot of people feel that they have to always use -18dBFS and then run their faders really low. This still doesn't account for how hard the signal hits the input of the board (which to me is a big factor in the sound). If a session is hot, I cal to -14 or -12dBFS and levels aren't a problem.

[jonnyclueless]

This is a nice pipe dream thread, but at the same time it's jsut preaching to the choir. If only there was a betetr way to get this info to the people who are sending us sessions.

[cgarges]

Originally Posted by jonnyclueless

I'm not saying that audio should be printed up to 0dBFS, but with proper calibration it's not much of an issue. For some reason a lot of people feel that they have to always use -18dBFS and then run their faders really low. This still doesn't account for how hard the signal hits the input of the board (which to me is a big factor in the sound). If a session is hot, I cal to -14 or -12dBFS and levels aren't a problem.

I'm a big RADAR advocate and can only do a global calibration on the output. It's a real pain to get sessions with kick drum averaging -6 and guitar averaging -1.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[cgarges]

Originally Posted by jonnyclueless

This is a nice pipe dream thread, but at the same time it's jsut preaching to the choir. If only there was a betetr way to get this info to the people who are sending us sessions.

Well, since Scinx asked, I think that's a good start.

There are people who post on here who have never paid money or been paid money to work in a real commercial recording facility. I think it's perfectly reasonable to have a discussion like this here.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[djui5]

Originally Posted by cgarges

Well, since Scinx asked, I think that's a good start.

There are people who post on here who have never paid money or been paid money to work in a real commercial recording facility. I think it's perfectly reasonable to have a discussion like this here.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I agree. There is no better place to spread the word quickly to an insanley huge mass of industry professionals, commercial studios or home studios, producers or engineers, than on online forums.

[cgarges]

Perhaps if we tie in some comments about whether or not the DN780 is really an AMS and which Chinese condensers are stolen from which European designs, we will garner more attention to this topic.

;-)

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Scinx]

I very much appreciate the insights shared thus far. It has been very helpful to read through all these posts. Not sure I understand why this thread could be deemed a pipedream [except for the fact that pipedreams are probably good - at least they sound good ]. Sure, you may not have all your desires satisfied by anybody who comes through the door, but for someone - like me - who hasn't been in a professional recording environment (dealing with various personnel at various stages), this becomes a great guide so that things are done correctly the first time [allowing for at least ONE person to come in with things to your liking].

Originally I figured I'd mix the album I've been working on, but understanding the importance of the mixing stage, and understanding my inherent mixing limitations - both technically and asset-based, I am much more keen to have this done by someone who knows the deal. As such, this information in the thread is very valuable. It enables me to avoid pitfalls that piss mixers off, and, just generally, helps everything flow better. For instance, if someone designed coverart in RGB instead of CMYK, it would create hell for the printer - this leads to wasted time or a crappy final product (in other words - not so cool). The more help I can give to everybody at every stage, the better off we all are, and the better off the music will be. Now I'll kick the soapbox into the bonfire and cease my mutterings of such theoretical utopian pipedreams.

[Mike O]

Download and follow the guidlines found here.

[Dave Martin]

I thought about this today - exactly how does one make a track sheet for a PT session? I mean, I'll move the position of tracks fairly often; and it's not uncommon for me to put new tracks at any given position in the window. For that matter, there are times when I need to change the output of a given track. The old style tracksheets don't make a lot of sense to me given those variables. Do you wait until you're done tracking to actualy write the track sheet?

[robmix]

Yup, if you have send the tracks out to a "mixer dude" wait until you're done. Save a new session, hide or delete unused tracks, delete unused plalists if neccessary, group like instruments, then write out a track sheet with all the pertinent info. Saves time and money.

[cgarges]

Either that or (GASP!) do them in pencil. I move stuff around all the time and if it gets where there is too much erased stuff visible, I'll just do a new sheet. It takes about a minute.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[jayfrigo]

Originally Posted by robmix

Save a new session, hide or delete unused tracks, delete unused plalists if neccessary, group like instruments, then write out a track sheet with all the pertinent info. Saves time and money.

Good stuff. I also like Dave's comment about not leaving 19 guitar tracks to sort out and decide on. Don't be afraid to commit. A variable here or there isn't bad and can even be good, but if you can't set forth a clear vision, how do you expect a mixer to offer a compelling interpretation?