How do mix album?

[Sean in Silence]

When you guys are mixing an album
do you have an exact template for every song?
Like the same exact levels and eq cuts/boosts
or do you mix every song on the album differently?
Or somewhere in between?
Just curious as to what most people tend to do

 

[dontletmedrown]

All custom work.

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

I'm interested in this too. I'm working on two CDs at the moment, and they're going in opposite directions on this front

Normally, I start with the simplest song (track-wise - so the fewest overdubs, no extra percussion etc.), and once that's done I transfer those settings/plug-ins to the other songs and tweak as needs be. I've got one session going exactly like that at the moment and it's all lovely and working fine - takes a couple of hours to set up the track, edit stuff, remix to fit, automate bits etc.

However, I'm also doing a CD where the recording has been all over the place - the drums and bass were done in one go, but guitar-wise 2 songs have mic'd cabs, one has mics and amp sim/impulse, and one only has amp line-out/impulse. Some of the vocals were done on a dynamic mic, some were done on a nice condenser... we got caught out because one of the tracks was going on a compilation and had to be finished early, which meant we couldn't record everything at once (we had to get everything down for that one song). It's a mess basically, and means I can't just use the same settings for everything. Trying to get the songs to work together in context is proving a proper nightmare - I can't even keep the drums sounding the same as they just don't translate with the different guitar sounds. I don't intend to work like this again

Steve

 

[alan1990]

I'm interested in this too. I'm working on two CDs at the moment, and they're going in opposite directions on this front

Normally, I start with the simplest song (track-wise - so the fewest overdubs, no extra percussion etc.), and once that's done I transfer those settings/plug-ins to the other songs and tweak as needs be. I've got one session going exactly like that at the moment and it's all lovely and working fine - takes a couple of hours to set up the track, edit stuff, remix to fit, automate bits etc.

However, I'm also doing a CD where the recording has been all over the place - the drums and bass were done in one go, but guitar-wise 2 songs have mic'd cabs, one has mics and amp sim/impulse, and one only has amp line-out/impulse. Some of the vocals were done on a dynamic mic, some were done on a nice condenser... we got caught out because one of the tracks was going on a compilation and had to be finished early, which meant we couldn't record everything at once (we had to get everything down for that one song). It's a mess basically, and means I can't just use the same settings for everything. Trying to get the songs to work together in context is proving a proper nightmare - I can't even keep the drums sounding the same as they just don't translate with the different guitar sounds. I don't intend to work like this again

Steve

curve eq might help you out with some of those problems. also antares makes a mic modeller plugin you might be able to use to make the vocals all sound the same

 

[GarethSE]

I go with the template route personally.

 

[scorpio01169]

When I'm using the automating function I use a channel max volume template

 

[garry666]

¯\(°_o)/¯¯

 

[Sean in Silence]

hahahaha
¯\(°_o)/¯¯¯\(°_o)/¯¯¯\(°_o)/¯¯
lol
I generally find that I go the template route for the beginning of the mix
but
the final mix NEVER ends up the same as the template
there are always little things that change from song to song
but nothing so drastic that it sounds like it's a completely different album or band

 

[Moonlight_Seeker]

Yeah so I got lazy so I mixed one song, saved the settings, then had instrument projects instead of song projects, but since I had one mixed song I had 1 song project, so I exported all the instrument project's track into the song project so it became the album project. This makes my computer catch fire and the screen blows a lot of air so my hair goes wild.

 

[fabz]

normaly i have everything in one session. though it can be a nightmare if there are a lot of tempo changes or if the session is full of plug ins. But for me this method works best.

 

[Ermz]

I pick one track to work the core of the mix on, and that becomes the 'template track'. It's the first one that I mix and it's the one that sets the tone for the entire CD. After the mix of that track is done, the audio regions are wiped, along with the automation, and the new tracks are popped in. After that I will tweak things around to suit the rest of the songs, re-automate from scratch etc. etc. From what I gather that's fairly standard fare. It creates continuity from one track to the next, stops you having to remix every song from scratch (which is just a waste of time really) and makes the ME's job easier to boot.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

normaly i have everything in one session. though it can be a nightmare if there are a lot of tempo changes or if the session is full of plug ins. But for me this method works best.

That is very interesting!! I've never considered working like that, though it does make a lot of sense.

I personally do a template song, copy the template, and then tweak each sound to sound its best and retain the songs individual character.

 

[rainkaos]

normaly i have everything in one session. though it can be a nightmare if there are a lot of tempo changes or if the session is full of plug ins. But for me this method works best.

I've been doing this until recently. Got sick of trying to change a time sig somewhere and having the entire project go out of whack. It's cool if the songs are finalised though. makes life easier.

 

[The-Zeronaut]

I pick one track to work the core of the mix on, and that becomes the 'template track'. It's the first one that I mix and it's the one that sets the tone for the entire CD. After the mix of that track is done, the audio regions are wiped, along with the automation, and the new tracks are popped in. After that I will tweak things around to suit the rest of the songs, re-automate from scratch etc. etc. From what I gather that's fairly standard fare. It creates continuity from one track to the next, stops you having to remix every song from scratch (which is just a waste of time really) and makes the ME's job easier to boot.

Big +1
this really makes you save a lot of time

one question for the sneapters...
for your "template song" do you usually go for the easiest or the most difficult song in terms of mixing?

 

[fabz]

I've been doing this until recently. Got sick of trying to change a time sig somewhere and having the entire project go out of whack. It's cool if the songs are finalised though. makes life easier.

I think theres a workaround (have to try it though):
Insert another tempo marker at the end of every song like this:

120 BPM - Song1 - 120 BPM ............ 165 BPM - Song2 - 165BPM ........... 278 BPM (sic!) - Song3 - 278BPM

If you have to change something in Song2 it only happens between the last 120BPM marker and the last 165BPM marker.

I'm talking Pro Tools though... don't know if it works on other daws....

Correct me if i'm talking shit!

 

[Andy Sneap]

I do all my drums first on all songs, then gtrs, then bass, then vocals, then start doing automation on each track. I keep working round all the tracks so I don't get bored and stuck on one thing. I find it leads to a more balanced album too.

I'll use import session data in Pro tools to import same settings once I've got something I'm happy with, then fine tune for each song.

 

[gabriel g.]

I did every song in different projects. But I got extreme problems with temp and so on.
So now I track everything in one project. Edit the hell out of it.
Then I start mixing one song (in this one hugh project) to the point I think it goes in the right direction. Then I play the other songs in the project with the mix settings and look how it works.
Then I finaly tweak a little and the main mix is done.
So I go back to every individual song and change some tittle things (like reverb times for snare, compressor ratio, some effects) and bounce the song.

So :
One hugh project.
One mix for all songs.
Tweaking everysong so it works the best and bounce it.


I was always afraid, that my HD will break because of the big data, but I never had any problems.

And I´m using logic8 on an macbook pro (so no 8-core and 2tb hd)


This way saves me a lot of time (like 2-4h)

 

[vespiz]

I do all my drums first on all songs, then gtrs, then bass, then vocals, then start doing automation on each track. I keep working round all the tracks so I don't get bored and stuck on one thing. I find it leads to a more balanced album too.

I'll use import session data in Pro tools to import same settings once I've got something I'm happy with, then fine tune for each song.

+1

Smaller projects (like a 3-song demo) I'll do on one session, but on larger I use individual sessions.

(PS. on PT, have the tracks set on ticks, instead of samples if you have trouble getting the regions to follow tempo changes.)

 

[16S]

I pick one track to work the core of the mix on, and that becomes the 'template track'. It's the first one that I mix and it's the one that sets the tone for the entire CD. After the mix of that track is done, the audio regions are wiped, along with the automation, and the new tracks are popped in. After that I will tweak things around to suit the rest of the songs, re-automate from scratch etc. etc. From what I gather that's fairly standard fare. It creates continuity from one track to the next, stops you having to remix every song from scratch (which is just a waste of time really) and makes the ME's job easier to boot.

Same here. i am mixing a 10 track album at the moment. Once the 10 tracks are mixed i do a "continuity" check so that the whole album has the same feel

 

[MetalJonesy]

I'll use import session data in Pro tools to import same settings once I've got something I'm happy with, then fine tune for each song.

its a great function, but unless you have the complete production toolkit or HD then its a pain in the arse!