Mixing your own band's record...

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Recycled_Brains
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Mixing your own band's record...

Post by Recycled_Brains » Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:55 am

... without losing your f*cking mind.

How? I've been in the throes of anxiety for a bit now, working on my band's 2nd LP. The raw tones are great. The rough mixes sound awesome, and are a great starting point. So why do I hate it now that I've started mixing for real? I think I'm just doing too much to it and being dogmatic about equipment choices and such (i.e. "I bought this EQ, so I'll be damned if I'm not going to use it on the guitars! Stuff like that.).

Anyways, I'm obviously thinking out loud and venting, but man.... I know a lot of you guys on here do this. How do you get through it without slamming your head against the wall and hating it in the end? How do you keep perspective, especially if the tracking process was really drawn out? Is there any possibility to step backwards and introduce some objectivity back into it?

I think maybe I need to tear it all down and rebuild at this point.
Ryan Slowey
Albany, NY

http://maggotbrainny.bandcamp.com

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vvv
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Re: Mixing your own band's record...

Post by vvv » Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:12 am

Things that help me (not in any specific order):

1. taking a step back
2. patience
3. time
4. intervening music-making
5. other music-listening/referencing
6. :high: (actually, I prefer booze, but ya get the idear)
bandcamp;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.

kslight
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Re: Mixing your own band's record...

Post by kslight » Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:31 am

With my music, the writing and mixing stages sort of blur together, so I find it valuable to create a new version of the session and stereo mix with every significant change... when in situations like yours I will go back to the old sessions and see what’s happened, see what got lost, etc. And yeah, sometimes you just need to zero it all out.

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Recycled_Brains
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Re: Mixing your own band's record...

Post by Recycled_Brains » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:39 pm

I tore it down and started fresh. Zero'd out the EQ's and compressors, etc. Simplified as well. reduced 2 mics on guitar cabs to just the best sounding one... stuff like that. Already like it better. We'll see.

Also, big ups to Powers whiskey.
Ryan Slowey
Albany, NY

http://maggotbrainny.bandcamp.com

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Re: Mixing your own band's record...

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Tue Mar 12, 2019 5:54 am

The only way I'm ever happy mixing my own stuff is to do it quickly, usually right after its tracked. Then I leave it alone and don't listen to it for quite a while.
When I come back to it I can hear the few things I missed or that could be better but the intent is fully there. Sometimes I tweak the mix, sometimes I just leave it alone.

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