What if you just suck?

bannerj · Post by **bannerj** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:04 pm

Anybody here had to face the fact that they just suck at mixing?

I've got no more excuses. Great room. Great gear...and I pretty much suck.

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:48 pm

Oh man. I've been there before. I think you need to take a big step back (and maybe a break from hearing whatever you're working on) and ask yourself generally, what have you got sonically? What is it missing/has to much of? What do you want the records you make to sound like?

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 2:27 pm

Two things come to mind. First a mentor of some sorts might help. Second, sometimes it is who you are recording. I had a major realization when someone I respect quite a bit recorded a band that I had worked with a year or so previous. I thought my recording with this band was really bad. I just couldn't make things the way I wanted them to be. I thought I just wasn't good enough. Then I heard this other recording of the same band. And this was after they had a year of giging most weekends. His recording was also quite bland and uninspiring, and it sounded quite a bit like the project I did with this same band.

bestmixerever · Post by **bestmixerever** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 2:42 pm

Ahhhh, we all suck to somebody. More times than not, I'm convinced that I suck and clients tell me otherwise. The I listen to records that REALLY suck. But to the person who mixed it and the clients who loved it didn't think that it sucked even though to me the mix sounds like the engineer had a hot screwdriver poked in his earhole. You're probably fine. Sometimes you just gotta step away from it for a day or so and you'll be shocked at how much you don't suck!

Jitters · Post by **Jitters** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:34 pm

Okay, so your ear is telling you you suck, but is it telling you why?

In other words, can you hear specifically where you're falling short, or is it just vague and general?

I'm asking you to think about this distinction because it seems to me that the biggest part of this art by far is developing the ear. The rest is just knowledge and that's the easy part. If your ear is showing you the way forward you are in good shape.

signorMars · Post by **signorMars** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 4:24 pm

grow a ponytail and a goatee and start saying "babe" a lot. that should solve your problem.

(no offense to the goateed or the ponytailed. the babesayers can go to hell)

380fjnOk · Post by **380fjnOk** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 4:31 pm

I know how that feels like.
It?s like learning an instrument, everyday you suck a little less. it?s the same for everybody.

??????? · Post by **???????** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 4:36 pm

drumsound wrote:Two things come to mind. First a mentor of some sorts might help. Second, sometimes it is who you are recording. I had a major realization when someone I respect quite a bit recorded a band that I had worked with a year or so previous. I thought my recording with this band was really bad. I just couldn't make things the way I wanted them to be. I thought I just wasn't good enough. Then I heard this other recording of the same band. And this was after they had a year of giging most weekends. His recording was also quite bland and uninspiring, and it sounded quite a bit like the project I did with this same band.

This.

It's not a level playing field. Some guys you could just toss a Mr. Microphone on the floor and press record. Other guys not so much. And often this kind of stuff is really subtle, too, where you could blame yourself if you wanted to. It's not always blatantly terrible.

I once knew a drummer who made everyone else around him look bad. Everyone who played with him just sounded kind of 'blah.' When I played with him I sounded "blah" and had to work real hard. But the kicker is... from out front of the bandstand he sounded fine... he just made everyone else sound bad. He had that power... I called it "the thing." He wasn't too loud, wasn't too quiet. His time was okay. But there was just something flaccid about the way he played that would sabotage anything.

agrpap · Post by **agrpap** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:18 pm

it's never as bad as you think it is. we are our own worst critics. i'm never completely happy with anything, but my clients always are. it took me years to learn to ignore my own hypercritical leanings and to just accept that the work is, at least, pretty damn good.

JohnDavisNYC · Post by **JohnDavisNYC** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:44 am

well, some people do just suck...

not saying that this is the case with the OP, because I know that we can all be our own harshest critic, but... some people do suck at mixing, and maybe the OP is just being harsh on himself, and maybe he does indeed suck at mixing.

if he is just being hard on himself, that is part of the drive to get better... figuring out what you want to hear and then pushing yourself to get there is pretty much the way to improve at any musical endeavor.

if he does suck at mixing, he should find the stuff he doesn't suck at and excel at that... and send stuff elsewhere for mixing. maybe he is awesome at producing and getting the best out of a band, performance and vibe-wise, and should just work with an engineer that he feels gets to the sonic place he wants it.

also, definitely a huge +1 to the mentor suggestion that Tony put out there... learning by watching is crucial... you can only go so far in a vacuum.

john

Jon Nolan · Post by **Jon Nolan** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:29 am

obviously i can only speak for myself, but.....

over the summer, i went down to cape cod to record a pal's band. drummer's dad had this big arse house down there. they are a great band. they write great songs. they all sing and play their arses off.

when i left, after the weekend session, i was all...
"I effin' RULE!"

the next day i recorded another, different band.

when I left after that session - the day after the cape cod thing, mind you - I was all...
"I effin' SUCK!"

I actually sat down at the drums after they left and recorded a little just to see what the damn problem was - mics? placement? tuning? - and you know what? it was the drummer. i'm not beating up on the dude or anything, but lordy, how a person plays really makes a huge difference in the recording.

turns out the awesome band did all the heavy lifting, and i was giving myself too much credit. vice versa with the shitty band. not that i didn't have a part of both experiences.

as *I* get better, I know that the bands who aren't as good will sound better as a result of the little tricks, and the improved basic skills that I acquire. likewise the awesome bands will benefit from any experience I gain. but in the end, if the song and the band suck, i imagine i will be underwhelmed.

as for the mentoring, it's one of the great losses of today's recording environment. i would love to hang, assist, whatever with some more experienced peeps.

bannerj · Post by **bannerj** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:08 am

I'm going to resist the urge to get into specifics about why I suck as a mixing engineer. I could say...well, my mixes sound thin and puny and pinched...but I'm not so interested in trying to fix my problems in this thread as I am interested in hearing others voice their experiences with fear and frustration in the area of mixing especially.

We spend so much time on these threads trying to prove to each other that we know what we are talking about. Maybe it would be helpful for us to hear more about trial and error.

AND, I'm really curious if anyone out there has realized that they really do suck at mixing. Did that person stop trying? Does such a person continue as a tracking engineer? How did this person finally decide to call it quits? How long and hard had he/she tried to learn to do it well.

Mom always said, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." What if you have tried again and again, and you still suck. It is not better to accept our limitations and move on to something else? How many times do you try, try again?

bannerj · Post by **bannerj** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:14 am

Oh, and thanks for all the posts/thoughts so far. I really do wish I could have a mentor. That would be sweet.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:05 am

I just wanna say that your choice of thread titles either sucks, or is brilliant.

I'm not quite sure ...

HotRats · Post by **HotRats** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:10 am

My expirence tells me that you don't know if you're good or bad at mixing untill you have the opportunity to mix a well recorded, produced/arranged and played project.

If an (expirenced) engineer can't make a good mix in that situation he probably sucks

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