Mixers: how do you deal when you receive bad tracks?

Heabow

Heabow

More cowbell!
Aug 24, 2011
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France
Let me explain it a bit more ;)

Well, I received the raw tracks from a band I'm gonna mix soon. The drums are programmed and they sound very machine-like. It does not sound human at all. The band cannot do a better job at it and has no extra money for me to do it. I could be nice and do it for free if I'd have time but I don't have. It's a shame because the songs are good but the drums will level the mix down.

How do you guys deal in such a situation?
 
If you're not in risk of bad reputation inform the band what's wrong and If they're ok mix it. Alternatively find someone on the forum with time to improve the midi tracks or give some tips on the band how to do it themselves. If you think the result will just suck tell them so and turn it down. If they have little money they should spend it wiser.
 
It really depends on the material you working with. If programmed drums is a mandatory, then it is possible to just alternate midi position and velocity by a random value in just one touch and get a pretty good result.
 
Yes all notes are in grid. Velocities are not a big deal and in all cases, I'll have to touch them to get proper results with my own sounds. But moving all notes is pretty time consuming tho.
 
Heabow said:
Yes all notes are in grid. Velocities are not a big deal and in all cases, I'll have to touch them to get proper results with my own sounds. But moving all notes is pretty time consuming tho.
Click to expand...

What i would do is giving them a quick preview.
30 seconds with the original drums.
30 seconds with the humanized drums.
This way they should understand.

I could be up for the job if u're too busy btw. I'm super fast with this shit.
 
Yeah this is a tough call because it is your reputation, but their lack of money and skill. Personally in these situations I would consider additional options to the ones already mentioned.

1. Not take the job. Straight up say the drums are shit and either they fix them, come up with the money for you to fix them, or you won't do it. I usually try and figure this out ahead of time depending on budget and try to get a rough mix of what I am dealing with before even quoting.

2. Take the job but tell them not to credit you. So you still do it, but your reputation isn't on the line as much. And you may still get the word of mouth with their caveat that it was programmed drums, limited budget, etc. But at least strangers that could be potential clients won't find that mix. Hell I have even done this for bands that just sucked performance-wise beyond my ability to edit or within their budget for editing.

3. Embrace the shitty programmed drums! Go all Mortician or something with it. Use the most fake kit you can stand and go for it and not hide it. Like an Alesis DM5 or a stock Cubase kit or something. Not only have I heard bands do this (ie. Mortician). Done right it can sound pretty cool. Maybe kind of go for a more industrial vibe. If the band is willing to put it out like that, then why shouldn't you? Of course make it clear the way you are going to have to go with it. May not be as bad as you think.

#3 Could be fun to experiment with I think. Maybe smash the shit out of it with a compressor. Or play it through a speaker and mic the room all black metal in the woods style. Hell man I have seen bands perform live with a drum machine and as initially I feel how lame it is, sometimes the bands are fucking sick!
 
Thanks to you all.
Cubase seems to be great for MIDI. I used to use an older version and it was more practical than PT. Any function in PT? I saw some tutos to random the velocities but not the placement of the notes.
 
Don't know about PT,
But Cubase has the logical editor since... forever ! (I'm sure it's there since SX3, and probably before)
It's very quick and powerful, way more than it seems when reading my tuto :)
 
I don't have PT, but I'm pretty sure it has some note randomization, because once band sent me drum midi that had some kind performance randomization applied (it had mentioned in printed info tag or something + band said so).
 
not at my PT system right now so i cant give you specifics but a bit of googling should help you, you can extract a groove from something with more feel using beat detective then use the quantize tool to apply the groove to midi,

could be more hassle than it's worth and i've never had to do it myself, but i know it can be done, hope that helps

EDIT: forget al the above rambling, select you midi region and go to Event>Midi real time properties there are both velocity and and quantize options in there that lets you change the amount so swing or groove just make your changes and hit "write to region"
 
Do what they paid you to do. If I received these I would tell them "the drums are humanized really poorly and the tracks need editing - do you want me to mix as-is or provide you with a quote for humanizing and editing?"

If they don't want to do either (or if the tracks are unsalvagable), I'd let them know that the given tracks won't allow for a production I'd be happy with my name on, ask them if they want to retrack or want a refund minus their deposit (you took a deposit, right?) or maybe a nominal fee for the investigative work.
 
shouldn't be in your remit to sort the MIDI but if thats what it needs then try and coax them into paying someone a little bit to humanise them, or worst comes to worst you pay someone or do it yourself.

MIDI drums are a losing battle from the start in my opinion, if indeed they are trying to replicate the sound of a real drummer.

ultimately if it doesn't sound good its because the band isn't serious enough about recording themselves properly.
 
I found randomization processing in PT10 (Event > Event operation). It won't save anything tho.

Actually the band does not think it sounds bad at all as it is (!!??!!??!) And I can tell you it's DOES sound like a shitty machine and more than that, there are MANY errors such as playing snare + tom + cymbals + hats pattern at the same time, two identical notes layered... you get the picture! I tried to convinced them to improve at least a bit the stuff because the final product will not sound that good but they don't have extra money.

Yes Jeff, I always ask upfront payment but I cannot cancel the mix so I really have two options: either I mix it in an "industrial way" but it won't fit the music at all, either I do my job and it will be crappy. I all cases it will sound like a poor demo. Well I will do what I am paid for and take another name! Fuuuu...
 
BTW I want to publicly thank Marco (Deadstar) of Antigravity Studios for a quick test he did :) Unfortunately, the band can't pay for this but he can do a great job.
 
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