I go to the SAE Audio college, you know the one.
Well today I was talking to my tutor about not being able to get that 'Pro' sound. He told me that alot of work is done by the 'Mixing' Engineer, no, not the MASTERING engineer, thats something different all together.
Im on about the thinks like tweeking that snare till it sounds right, putting that sound in its own frequencie range. He told me that most of that is taken care of by the mixing engineer, and this goes for any kind of music.

Now this pissed me of alot, as i believe this is where a track comes alive. And now Im getting told, that the artist doesnt really do/needs to do all stuff, and STILL get credit because they wrote it.
Which is fair enough, write a track, get all credit and money.
But for me I want to as much as my own art as possible.

Im not happy with drawing a picture, sending it of to be colored. Now I can understand the Mastering thing is different and we get credit for using sounds we made from something we didnt, I can handle that.

Now my Question is, What artists Mix their own music?
I know all of you guys and myself included struggle over this for the reason that we consider this something that is a part of writing the music. Ive heard that Timo Mass once phoned up a his mixing engineer to get a 'Whoom sound'....... (Im not gonna even explain what I feel for that)

My second question also is.......WHY?
If this is the case why bother mixing ourselfs if we will get credit either way?
We might as well get a pro mixer to do it all for us, hey it will probally sound better and we will still get our name on the cover.

This has really put me off the whole industry of dance music.
Can someone please enlighten me, I honestly feel shit.
Anyone know anymore infomation on this world, and artists who mix their own stuff as much as possible?

I know you guys do your own mixing.

Lol
i did the degree at SAE (now nicknamed school af anal engineering by myself and a few others

Had major issues with their methods and views on certain things......

You are paying enough for their course- if you want to know something then get them to teach you it


it is very true tho (not so much in electronic music) that you record to get a clean sound, then you tweak it and get that 'pro sound' you speak of in mixdown.. Quite often you will find seperate engineers for this yes...

But in the electronic music domain, the creative process is different, and the finished sounds can help the direction of the creative process.....

Honestly though, this is what has drawn me into trance and EDM...the fact that artists can engage themselves in every facet of the songs creation AND production....from start to finish.

Lets face it...its more rewarding cuz not all facets are "fun"...that sacrifice gives us the sense of accomplishment. Without that work, your only making a minor contribution to the tune.

Good thread Damie.

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I believe Armin doesn't use any engineers...it's something he's quite proud of.

YES, cos dry dance music is something not to be proud of
heheh

Well people here go on about trying to master but I've stopped bothering trying to tell people that its more important to get it mixed right in the first place. In EDM, its a lot easier to just do everything yourself. For Vocalists and stuff, its probably a lot harder to mix everything as a pro would have a much better idea.

For good mixing, just make sure all the levels are right and that every channel has its home and you should be right. EQ is very important to make sure everything is clear, and so is the amp release at times on your lead to make sure that its strong and filling, but that it leaves space for other stuff.

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Last edited by hey cheggy on Jan-22-2004 at 03:01

what about effects (eg reverb on leads) cheggy??
We all know how shit a lead sounds dry
and what exactly is the right sounding mix thats ready for a mixdown

surely artists dont send in Dry mixes and get signed

Last edited by Damie Mckeown on Jan-22-2004 at 01:32

Your mixed song should sound very close to the mastered version. Some of the songs sent to mastering are sent there only for increasing the overall level of the piece, because they don't need anything more. Your mixed song should sound perfect and then it's really easy to master. I mixed and mastered this song in my bedroom, for example.

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entranced

Last edited by Design on Jan-22-2004 at 05:44

quote:

Originally posted by Damie Mckeown what about effects (eg reverb on leads) cheggy?? We all know how shit a lead sounds dry and what exactly is the right sounding mix thats ready for a mixdown surely artists dont send in Dry mixes and get signed

Not totally true. I can make a nice sounding lead without any effects on it at all. Just not from a soft synth.

As said, what you send in should be how it should sound. Most electronic producers I think you will find do the entire process themselves. If a label does their own mastering, then they might want a copy of your version as well as a copy of the unmixed version so they can fix up anything.


Design, your track sounds nice. Bassline is very good, lead sounds a bit too soft-synth for me though. I would maybe open up the amp attack and delay a little, different reverb or something. Nice work though.

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1 out of every 4 people in this country are mentally disturbed. Look at your 3 closest friends. If they seem okay, then you're the one.

Thanks Cheggy

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entranced

Yeah, Ive never had a problem with the Mastering process, Im cool with it.
I can also understand how pop music and rock bands are required 'Mix' Engineering, because they cant be expected to know how to make it sound good in a mix too.

Its just for me, Effects is kinda what makes Dance music work Overall, and alot of songs are written on a backbone of delay effects, or a bassline with distortion.
Things you would need to do yourself to make it work.

I cant imagine artists sending in Dry versions of songs.
I really think Dance music is the odd one out when it comes to the mixer engineer 'Creating the overall mix'
And the engineer I spoke to doesnt know what the fuck hes talking about

Generally speaking, with other styles of music, the instruments are meant to sound natural and all within a specific space. With dance music, and in particular trance, the music is generally synthetic and therefore doesn't have to sound a particular way (if you wanted to eq the fuck out of a synth it won't sound unnatural because it wasn't natural in the first place). With styles such as rock or jazz the instruments need to sound more natural (there are obvious exceptions)and therefore can be more difficult to achieve the space required within the mix by panning, effects and eqing and still keep the instruments natural characteristics.


Hmm, having read this back to myself I think I could have explained this better (but as I'm at work I think this better do!!!!)