having a song re-mixed

[yourmomsp]

I'm an artist who just had an album mixed by an engineer. He did a great job in general, but there are 2 songs that I'm thinking I want something different out of. I'm thinking of either asking him to remix the songs or asking a competitor of him to mix the songs. From an artist perspective, I have an intuition that his comptetitor might be able to mix these particular two songs to my liking more so because the songs have a different feel than the other songs on the album. At the same time, I don't want to offend the original engineer because I would like to work with him on future projects. Any advice for handling this situation? Thanks.

[TheStevens]

While I might be slightly offended initially as an engineer in that situation, the fact that you only wanted two of the songs remixed and not the whole album clearly shows that you're happy with the majority of his/her work. So I wouldn't feel too bad about going to another engineer for two songs.

[John Jeffers]

If the guy is a pro, you shouldn't have to worry about it. He may be offended, but even if he is, he shouldn't let it have a negative impact on how he works with you in the future. It's your music, not his. You should be happy with it, and if that means having it mixed by someone else, do it.

[trodden]

I've had it happen to me before. I was honored that the band who wanted to have their songs remixed were totally up front about it, cared enough about their music to have it redone, and the fact that the person they were taking it to was a hell of a lot better of an engineer than I am. the final product shows. I did what I could with the abilities i had at the time, and i'm totally ok with that. To many people "live" with outcomes rather than making sure they're completely 100 happy in the end. that goes for recordings and life in general... why spend your short time on this planet wondering "what if..." I'm happy i got to work with cool enough people to say "hey man, you did a great job, we like you, but we're going to take it to someone for a remix.." what would of bothered me if they hadn't said anything at all and talked shit behind my back. Its all about respect i guess, for others as well as for yourself.

[cgarges]

I say tell him. Be truthful and honest about it. If you want to maintain a relationship with this guy, don't go behind his back and do it. If he's a pro without any hangups, he'll either work something out for you to give him a shot (with the understanding that if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out) or he'll be entirely cool someone else doing it form the start. Either way, there's no misunderstanding or hard feelings if everything's out in the open.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[AnalogElectric]

Garges concisely said it best and I'm going to embellish it.

A majority of the time a band will come back in after we mix a full-length just to tweak a couple songs. There are also times where they wanted something completely different from a few songs (different feel than the majority main mix). Both situations work just fine cuz we have that foundation and hopefully the communication thru an already working relationship.

Then there are times where a band just wants to record the main tracks and mix it elsewhere, that's fine too.

Then there have been, I'm guessing, about 3 clients that completely went behind my back with a mix.

One of those times I kinda understand but it's still hard to swallow:
About 7 years ago I tracked a full-length with a band and all of them were very hands-on. We had great tones, performances, and really good communication. Once it got to the mixing I got a nasty cold, I was coughing up some really gross things. My ears were clogged and I was goofy from medication. They were well aware of it and I was apologizing the whole time. I told them that they'd have to be my ears, to a certain degree cuz I couldn't hear anything above 4kHz (I was in rough shape). I also told them that if it turned out weird, they could come back in when I was feeling better. I wasn't going to charge them for the re-mix (if necessary) cuz we had a full-length package deal plus I was so sick I wanted them to have that option. We finish the mix and they leave.

A month later I get a call from their manager and he wanted to pick-up the 2" master reels. Nothing odd about that, I had a tape vault that kept masters "in-trust" for bands that bought their reels but had no place to store them. When he came to pick them up he seemed sheepish especially when I asked if the mix was good. I don't remember the details of the conversation but I do remember not feeling like something was up.

A couple months go by and I was browsing thru the New Release wall at the record store and there was the album. I was kinda miffed that they didn't get me a copy (usual thing to do is to get me a copy once it's pressed). Considering I was too excited to hear it, I went ahead and bought it. Well, to my horror, yes-horror, it was mixed elsewhere. Then I put two-and-two together.

It pissed me off. Not that someone else mixed it but because they didn't want to keep me in the loop. It doesn't hurt my feelings unless I'm not told about it.

It's just easier for some people to ignore any find of situation. Did they think I would've raised a stink about it if they told me they wanted to mix it elsewhere? No. That's their money and choice to do so. I did all the tracking and I got proper credit so why would I care if it was mixed elsewhere... if they were up front about it? I wouldn't care, in fact I'd be supportive, and have been before and after the fact. I always find it interesting to hear what others do with raw tracks.

Anyways, that was an instance where it had to do with a full-length. The other instances were also similar but there were communication about it.

A couple songs out of a whole record isn't huge but it kinda seems unfair not to let the person you've already worked with have a stab at it.

1) If money is a concern here's something I've done in the past (albeit rare):
Mix on spec, meaning have the two songs re-mixed by both engineers to your liking and then pay the engineer that does the best job (if they go for that kind of deal), but that's a slippery-slope and could harbor some bad feelings/business relations on both sides.

2) Another idea is to invite the engineer you've already been working with to the re-mix session at the other studio. Personally I'd prefer that if the same situation came up in my direction. Stuff I've re-mixed have gone a lot smoother if I have an open dialog with the person who tracked it. Going thru someone else's notes can sometimes be a nightmare if I can't talk to them directly.

3) Another thing is you could do idea #2, (or at least keep him or her in the loop about it if he or she doesn't participate in the re-mix session) make sure you give more than proper credit inside the j-card, and give the original engineer a "co-producer" credit.

[@?,*???&?]

Be prepared to want the whole album remixed! lol

The contrast could be more than you bargained for!

[AnalogElectric]

Be prepared to want the whole album remixed! lol

The contrast could be more than you bargained for!

Yup... I forgot to mention that, only cuz the original post expressed his or her happiness with the rest of the record... but you never know. Two remixes can upset the scales.

-- Adam Lazlo