Advice for next step in the album I'm making

[Stoneroses6300]

I'm thinking I will be finished with tracking by the end of the year for the album that I'm recording. 11 songs. Just want to ask any advice to the next step...I will probably want the album to get mixed further into an analog board. Obviously along the way of tracking I have been mixing to get it to sound right to me...So I'm looking for someone to pretty much mix it through a nice desk or whatever gear they have and maybe even add on a couple more layers. But of course, I'm also looking for someone with experience who knows where I'm coming from musically, which to this date has been impossible to find. Every "producer" I have been with, I have not been happy with the mixes, and so I have been recording it all by myself through my protools rig. THe people I would like to mix it I'm sure are ridiculously expensive and out of my range like John Leckie (stone roses, Ride) and Dave Sardy (Oasis, The Thriils)...

Just let me know of any advice you could give me in advance...Thank you



Please delete this from the low end section..I meant to put it in this section

[NathanEldred]

What's your general budget for mixdown, i.e. to mix all 11 songs?

[Stoneroses6300]

I'm not sure...THats one of the things I was looking to find out...Would the price be by days? weeks? hours? I'm thinking I would probably need a week or two for mix down. I mean, it would all depend on who would be mixing it and how good they were and how satisfied I was with the results...

[djui5]

Well it depends on who mixes it, but most guys should just give you a flat rate per song, and maybe include a "free" recall, then an hourly rate for anything above that. Song rates can be anywhere from $200 a song to $2,000 a song (or even up to $10,000 a song if your gonna pay for it). Make sure whoever quotes you includes studio time. Some guys are freelance and the studio time could be a different charge.

[Stoneroses6300]

Ha, yeah, I'm sure it can get expensive...Out of curiosity, anyone know any way to contact possible producers/mixers one would be interested in?

[NathanEldred]

The best thing to do is find a mixer with his own studio so it's all inclusive (like how Randy suggested). I'm not sure how the national market is priced, but I would expect a guy with a board and a racks of expensive outboard to cost more than just a guy with a computer and plug ins (plus you specifically voiced your preference for a console and probably tape?).

I think the mixing a whole album and then presenting it to you for changes is crazy, my personal style is to work on a song or two, the ones that really represent your music very well, and get those going well and then there is a creative template for the rest of the album. Sure everbody wants every song to be 110% at it's best, but in my experience that's often not reality, and often making a million changes to every little nano paramater of a song can kill it just as much as it can make it better.

Most mixers I know usually want 'a day' for a mix, which is anywhere from 8-12 hours. It's just my opinion, but anything less is for demo purposes. So that means from a professional perspective (again IMHO), I would guess your mix could take anywhere between 88 and 132 hours...the first being a very solid 2 weeks, the second being a very solid 3 weeks. You could easily do quicker but my prediction is you will be shortchanging your music (and mixing on a console to tape does usually take a little longer than in the box, but the results are worth it), or if the engineer promises quicker or cheaper they will be working for free for 1/3 of the project. Not good for either person involved.